Harworth Group on track with development pipeline

(Sharecast News) - Land and property regeneration specialist Harworth Group said in an update on Monday that it was on track to achieve an EPRA net development value (NDV) of £1bn by the end of 2027. The London-listed company, which was holding its annual general meeting later in the day, said it had completed, exchanged, or reached heads of terms on 75% of its budgeted sales for the current financial year.

It had also expanded its pipeline with strategic land acquisitions totaling 0.5 million square feet, and was exploring several promising opportunities.

Harworth said it had received allocations for 3.5 million square feet of space and 600 plots, with draft allocations for an additional 2.3 million square feet and 2,275 plots.

The firm said it was progressing planning applications for 10.1 million square feet of industrial and logistics space and 2,274 housing plots.

Development of 0.4 million square feet of industrial and logistics space was either underway or set to start later in 2024, with 52% pre-let or designated for owner-occupiers.

Once fully let, the development was expected to generate £2.9m in annual rental income.

Additionally, enabling works were in progress for an additional 2.1 million square feet of commercial site development.

Harworth said it maintained a conservative balance sheet, with significant liquidity of £171.1m and a pro-forma loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of 8.4% as of 30 April, based on December valuations.

"Harworth has delivered strong strategic and operational momentum to date in 2024 despite a still somewhat uncertain economic backdrop as we continue towards our growth ambition of £1bn EPRA NDV by the end of 2027," said chief executive officer Lynda Shillaw.

"Strong demand remains for our serviced residential products which provide us with regular funding as we make excellent progress on our industrial and logistics pipeline in the remaining years of our current strategic planning period.

"This enables the delivery of over 3.3 million square feet and £430m gross development value across our industrial and logistics sites by the end of 2027."

Shillaw said the company now had 23.6 million square feet and 12,290 residential plots with planning consent, were in the planning system or had either allocation or draft allocation, providing de-risked visibility on future projects.

"With our continued focus on acquisitions, planning and development across our land bank, and our strong financial position, we are well-positioned to continue driving growth and value for our stakeholders."

At 0911 BST, shares in Harworth Group were down 0.73% at 136.5p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.