Home Group still expects to hit completions target despite reduction as pre-tax surplus tops £32m

The North East-based provider highlighted that the availability of grant funding had impacted its completions pipeline. Overall turnover reduced by 2% to £251.2m, largely driven by an £11m drop in new build property sales.

Home Group explained: “This reflects a strategic shift towards affordable homeownership rather than outright sales, and is fully offset by an equivalent decrease in cost of sales.”

Despite this, the landlord’s overall margin increased by more than two percentage points to 21%. Its interest cover ratio was also up to 158.3%.

Gearing, the measure of the landlord’s financial leverage, fell slightly to 43.5% due to an increase in assets driven by the addition of new homes. Total spending on existing homes was up 3.8% to £76.5m, including £2.3m on building safety works.

Its trading update states: “We anticipate a higher volume of maintenance activity in the second half of the year due to the phasing of planned works, including retrofit projects aimed at improving energy efficiency.

“We also expect an increase in responsive repair costs during the winter months as demand increases.”

Helen Meehan, chief financial officer at Home Group, said: “We’re pleased to report a strong performance for the first half of 2025-26, delivering a surplus before tax of £32.3m, a 33.8% increase compared to the same period last year.

“While some of this performance is expected to unwind in the second half due to the phasing of costs, we expect to deliver a full-year outturn which is ahead of target and an improvement on the outturn in 2024-25.

“We remain dedicated to delivering for our customers and communities, and we’re pleased to see continued improvements in overall customer satisfaction. In 2024-25, satisfaction rose from 66.9% to 68.2%, with a further increase to 72.2% in the first half of 2025-26.

“We continue to collaborate closely with our customers, actively listening to their feedback and striving for continuous improvement in everything we do. Customers are at the heart of our business, and we are committed to being transparent and accountable in how we serve them.

“A key area of focus within our customer promise is the provision of a reliable repairs service. Satisfaction with our repair service is increasing and our repair KPIs are improving.

“We expect to see a continuing improving trend as we focus on key drivers of customer satisfaction, such as completing repairs within committed timescale, achieving ‘right first time’ (fixing on the first visit), and keeping repair appointment times.”

Home Group’s latest trading update puts it in a similar position to its last financial year. Inside Housing reported in August that the landlord’s 2024-25 pre-tax profit was up by over 30%, following a year of economic “stabilisation”.

Ms Meehan added: “In August 2025 we were really pleased to have maintained our Standard & Poor’s (S&P) rating at A- with a stable outlook.

“S&P’s assessment reflects our strategic focus on maintaining a de-risked development programme, expanding our rental asset base and preserving flexibility to manage costs and external pressures.

“They also acknowledged the continued strength of our stock quality, our ongoing investment in existing homes and the sustained demand for our properties.”