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Swan’s surplus falls by 10%
Swan Housing recorded a reduced surplus in the last financial year, its annual report has revealed.
Its surplus fell by 10% from £33m to £29m despite the group actually increasing its income from social housing lettings from £57m to £59m.
It was Swan’s development activities in non-social housing that changed most significantly. In 2015/16, the group took £42m in turnover in that area, making a surplus of £10m. But in the last financial year, this fell to £33m in turnover with a surplus of just £5m.
The group is, however, in a strong position to service its existing debts, with interest cover of 232%. This is a figure that has been steadily increasing since 2014, when it stood at 158%, and is now well above the sector average of 170%.
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However, current debt stands at 68% of assets, a long way above the sector average of 50%.
Work is still under way on Swan’s modular housing factory in Basildon. The association aims to deliver 500 homes from the factory as part of its £100m regeneration of the Craylands Estate in Basildon.
Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, launched his London Housing Strategy alongside John Synnuck, chief executive of Swan, by touring a number of the association’s developments. Mr Khan told Inside Housing that his relationship with Swan was emblematic of his support for offsite construction of housing.
Mr Synnuck said: “At Swan we understand the desperate need for quality new homes. We believe that offsite construction methods will enable us to deliver these much-needed homes quickly, designed to a high specification and with reduced impact on both local residents and the environment.
“We are excited to be early adopters in the UK of this new way of working and to be continuing our long-term investment in Basildon. By using our own in-house construction team we are able to be more flexible in our approach and generate significant savings.”
