Half-year Report

Yarlington Housing Group Trading Update for the period ended 30 September 2018

Yarlington Housing Group (YHG) issues its unaudited group trading update for the period ending 30 September 2018. All comparatives are to Yarlington Housing Group's audited group Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2018.

Financial and Operating Performance

Operating surplus for the 6 months to September 2018 is £11m, against £18m for the year to March 2018. Housing Properties (after adjusting for depreciation) have increased to £526m from £531m. Net debt has decreased from £237m to £230m.

Void losses for our general needs and sheltered stock were 0.66% (March 2018: 0.52%). Rent arrears were 1.82% (March 2018: 1.76%). Void losses are within acceptable tolerances but we are reviewing our re-let and void maintenance processes to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. We continue to see good rental income performance despite the impact of our customers transitioning to Universal Credit which has caused others in the sector to experience higher levels of rent arrears.

 Liquidity

YHG has liquidity of £106m, consisting of available undrawn facilities of £49m, and available cash of £57m.

 Development

We completed 66 affordable units in the period (144 for the 12 months to March 2018). We have a contracted pipeline of 212 homes (March 2018: 111).

Yarlington Homes Ltd has completed the sale of 12 of the 19 plots on its site at Burnham-on-Sea, the remaining 7 plots are reserved and the sales are expected to be completed by the end of 2018. This site is expected to generate profits of £1m which will be used to increase our programme of social/affordable developments.

Board and Executive Team Changes

Chief Executive, Gary Orr, left the 12th October 2018 to become the CEO of Radian Group Ltd. Caroline Moore previously Executive Director of Finance, Governance and Risk has been appointed Managing Director in the interim and Kathryn Price has been appointed Interim Finance Director, Kathryn is an experienced FD, and has many years' experience of the housing sector.

Lindy Morgan, has agreed to continue as Chair for a further 12 months, Lindy was due to resign from the Board on the 12th September 2018 upon reaching 9 years service as a Non-Executive Director of YHG, our constitution allows for an extension beyond 9 years in exceptional circumstances.

William John Coutts resigned from the Board on the 12th September 2018 upon reaching 9 years service as a Non-Executive Director of YHG.

 Yarlington Housing Group Credit Rating

YHG has a Moody's A3 (stable) credit rating. An A3 (stable) rating is assigned to Yarlington Treasury Services plc's £120,000,000 secured bonds due 2057. Of the Bond Issue, £60m secured bonds have been retained by Yarlington Treasury Services for future sale and £60m secured bonds have been allocated to Pension Insurance Corporation plc over a deferred profile. 

END

For more information, please contact:

Kathryn Price, Interim Finance Director 01935 404585

https://www.yhg.co.uk/

Disclaimer

The information contained herein (the "Trading Update") has been prepared by Yarlington Housing Group (the "Parent") and its subsidiaries (the "Group"), including Yarlington Treasury Services plc (the "Issuer") and is for information purposes only.

The Trading Update should not be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities issued by the Parent, the Issuer or any other member of the Group, or any interest in any such securities, and nothing herein should be construed as a recommendation or advice to invest in any such securities.

Statements in the Trading Update, including those regarding possible or assumed future or other performance of the Group as a whole or any member of it, industry growth or other trend projections may constitute forward-looking statements and as such involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, no assurance is given that such forward-looking statements will prove to have been correct. They speak only as at the date of the Trading Update and neither the Parent nor any other member of the Group undertakes any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments, occurrence of unanticipated events or otherwise. The information contained in the Trading Update is unaudited.

None of the Parent, any member of the Group or anyone else is under any obligation to update or keep current the information contained in the Trading Update. The information in the Trading Update is subject to verification, does not purport to be comprehensive, is provided as at the date of the Trading Update and is subject to change without notice.

No reliance should be placed on the information or any projections, targets, estimates or forecasts and nothing in the Trading Update is or should be relied on as a promise or representation as to the future. No statement in the Trading Update is intended to be a profit estimate or forecast. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is given by or on behalf of the Parent, any other member of the Group or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, advisers, agents or any other persons as to the accuracy or validity of the information or opinions contained in the Trading Update (and whether any information has been omitted from the Trading Update). The Trading Update does not constitute legal, tax, accounting or investment advice.