Morgan Sindall is increasing its investment in its housing division to £330m this year, it has announced.
A trading announcement by the firm today (2 May) outlined an optimistic outlook, with the firm saying it was confident of delivering a full-year performance in line with expectations.
It said its housing arm, Lovell Partnerships, benefitted from an improved housing market in Q1 and the start of Q2.
A higher level of sales activity across both mixed-tenure and contracting was driving the expected improvement in performance compared with the previous year, it added.
“The average capital employed for the full year is estimated at c£330m, higher than previous guidance, as the business invests in its partnerships for future growth,” it said.
Elsewhere, the contractor’s fit-out division showed strong growth, with Q1 and Q2 expected to show significant growth on the previous year, the statement said.
But it said its completions in the urban regeneration division had fallen compared with prior years, so Morgan Sindall is looking to the second half of the year to make up its full-year performance. “The average capital employed for the year is expected to be c£90m,” it said.
Chief executive John Morgan said: “Since the start of the year, trading has been as expected and looking ahead to the rest of the year, our high-quality secured order book gives us great confidence of delivering a full-year performance which is in line with our expectations.”
Lovell Partnerships has entered into joint ventures (JVs) with local authorities and housing associations.
Its JV with Suffolk Council is worth £700m and is set to build 2,800 homes.
It has created joint companies with housing associations Clarion, Acis, Flagship and Together Housing Group, and is also named on the Homes England Delivery Partner list.
In 2021 John Morgan said that he wanted his company to avoid JVs with other contractors as they did not allow for the same level of control over projects.
