Flagship and Bromford merger set to complete in first half of 2025

Flagship Group’s chief financial officer says the housing association expects to complete its merger with Bromford in the first half of 2025.

In a trading update for the six months to 30 September, Jonathan McManus said “significant progress” had been made by both parties.

“The merger business case shows that the combination creates around £2bn in additional borrowing capacity over 15 years,” he said.

The trading update also saw Flagship reveal it is on track to deliver 500 affordable homes in the 2024-25 financial year.

The east of England-based housing association reported turnover of £128.5m, up £11m on the same period last year.

Operating surplus stood at £57.3m for the period.

McManus said: “The Group continues to maintain solid operating margins and stable liquidity headroom enabling us to continue investing in our existing homes whilst delivering a new affordable home programme of approximately 500 homes.”

But he said the broader economic environment remained tough, with interest rates not falling as quickly as predicted and cost pressures impacting margins. 

Flagship’s low cost rental accommodation tenant satisfaction measure score for the period was 73.8%, up from 71.9% as of 31 March 2024.

Its overall customer satisfaction was 86.4% in September 2024, the highest level in the past 12 months.

McManus said: “Our tenants tell us that repair times are one of the biggest factors in their satisfaction, so we’ve made it a priority to improve this year.”

Flagship invested £47.5m in improving its existing homes in the period.

“Work-in-progress repairs have dropped from around 11,000 in April 2024 to 7,700 by September 2024,” he said. 

“The percentage of repairs completed within 28 days has risen from 60% to 78% in that time, with a goal of reaching 95% by March 2025.

“When excluding older legacy repairs (which we’re prioritising), we’re completing 99.7% of routine repairs within 28 days, exceeding our 95% target.”