Bovis Homes Group PLC (LON:BVS) today announced the completion of a 50:50 joint venture with Riverside, one of the UK’s leading registered providers of social housing, for the development of the new community at Stanton Cross, on the edge of Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. This exciting new development will deliver over 3,600 new homes together with leisure, retail and office space, new schools, public parks and open spaces.
The first phase at Stanton Cross was successfully launched in September 2018 with strong demand for the new homes. Bovis Homes completed 22 units on the site in 2018 delivering a total of c. £2m profit.
Bovis Homes Group has transferred gross assets totalling £102.6m relating to the development, including land and work in progress, into the JV. Consideration for these assets has been satisfied with equity of £33.1m from each of the JV partners alongside the existing £36.4m Homes England loan, also transferred from Bovis Homes Limited into the JV. Bovis Homes Group has realised a net cash benefit from the transaction of £69.5m which will contribute towards our capital return plan of a total of £180m or c. 134p per share to shareholders in the three years to 2020.
The Group set out a clear plan to optimise its balance sheet in 2017 and with the completion of this JV, has now achieved a total of £253.5m from these initiatives, significantly exceeding the £180m target. We will maintain a strong focus on active balance sheet optimisation going forwards.
Greg Fitzgerald, Chief Executive of Bovis Homes Group, commented:
“We are very pleased to have formed this partnership with Riverside, one of the UK’s leading providers of affordable housing and look forward to creating this exciting new community at Stanton Cross with them. We announced the development of our Partnership Housing Division earlier this year, and this is a great example of our land led strategy and working in partnership, in particular with housing associations, on our larger developments.”
