Henry Boot has started the year in a “strategically strong position” after disposing of the majority of its retail investments in 2019, the developer announced in a trading update.
The retail disposals have helped the developer boost its net cash to a “higher than expected” level to circa £30m for the year ended 31 December 2019, compared with the previous year when the company accrued a net debt of £18m.
Henry Boot said several opportunities had been identified for the company to invest in during 2020.
Its housing development land division, Hallam Land Management, has had to push an unidentified “large scheme” which was forecast to complete in 2019 back to 2020, although the developer said “there is no certainty that it will conclude in the year ahead”.
The year-on-year valuation for the company’s portfolio was slightly up on 2018 and the group benefitted from valuation uplifts “relating to investment property under construction completed in the year”.
The firm said it had entered 2020 with a “strong committed order book” and plans to pursue opportunities in the partnership homes market following its acquisition of Starfish Commercial last year.
Chief executive Tim Roberts said: “We had a good year making strategic progress through investing in both our people and our future pipeline, while growing NAV.
“Looking forward, we have made a good start to the year with a strong balance sheet and further opportunities to add to our property development pipeline and strategic landbank, plus a healthy construction order book.”
The full results will be issued on 31 March 2020.
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