INTERVIEW: One week after officially leaving British Land, former head of offices Tim Roberts has been appointed to succeed John Sutcliffe as chief executive of Sheffield-based PLC Henry Boot.
Roberts spent 15 years running BL’s office team, developing the strategy for its London offices business and helping move its focus toward more mixed-use campuses. But despite a career mostly focused on the UK capital, Roberts is a Yorkshireman at heart, and is looking forward to “coming home”. He was raised in a village just eight miles from Sheffield.
The chief executive role is a position that Roberts is excited to be taking up.
“Having run a big part of the British Land business for 15 years and really enjoyed it, I really liked the idea of being a chief executive of a listed company. I have the commercial acumen and listed experience in terms of organisation and governance,” says Roberts. “Henry Boot is a business of long standing with a great reputation. It is in a good position, with hardly any debt and a potential development programme up to £1bn.”
Henry Boot, which was established more than 130 years ago, operates across three divisions – land promotion, property investment and development and construction. The business, which turns over around £400m, had a net debt of just £18.4m for the year ended 31 December, reflecting a LTV of 6%.
Roberts says this financial security, coupled with its focus on housebuilding, distribution, PRS and student housing and its skillsets in construction, planning, development and placemaking, made the business an attractive opportunity.
“These are all areas where there is really good potential to make good money,” he says. And the potential for Roberts to make his mark.
Onwards and upwards
Roberts says he is looking forward to working with the team at Henry Boot to make the most of the opportunities it already has, and to find new ones. He is also aware, however, that great responsibility comes with the title of chief executive, particularly of a listed company, and that he is going to the firm at a time of economic and political uncertainty. And regardless of whether the business is in a good financial position, those uncertain times will need to be navigated. Indeed, in the group’s latest full year accounts, the business warned that 2019 would be a challenging year as the real estate industry adapts to the UK’s departure from the EU.
Roberts officially takes up the position of chief executive on 1 January, so for the time being is seizing the opportunity to spend time with his family and recharge the batteries… and take on his own challenging environment, by trekking to Everest base camp.
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