Hyde sees annual surplus soar

Hyde Housing Association saw a substantial increase in both turnover and its surplus over the past year, boosted by development completions and better operating practices.

Announcing its results for the year to the end of March 2019, Hyde said turnover rose to £450.2m, up a third, while its adjusted surplus also rose sharply, from £102.2m to £134.5m.

Hyde manages more than 48,000 properties across London and the south-east of England.

Its chief executive, Elaine Bailey, said: “The significant increases in both turnover and surplus are related predominantly to a number of developments being completed last year, improved operational efficiencies and steady income from the rest of the business.”

The association’s development sales more than tripled to £250.4m.

Bailey added: “This enables us to deliver value for money, build more homes and invest in better customer services.”

In the wake of the Grenfell tower fire Hyde said it had completed Type 4 fire risk assessments of all 86 of its buildings more than 18m high.

“We have removed unsafe cladding from nine of our buildings and been open and transparent with residents throughout this process, to reassure them and to help them feel safe in their homes,” Bailey said. Remedial works are expected to continue in 2019/20, she added. 

Hyde said it planned to build 8,400 homes in the next five years, with partnerships being a key part of its development strategy.

Hyde’s group finance director Peter Denton (pictured), who will replace Bailey as the group’s chief executive next week, said: “These homes will be delivered through other housing associations, local authorities, private partners and our strategic partnerships with Homes England and the Greater London Authority.” 

He added: “We have aspirations to deliver 11,000 homes over the next five years, which will be achieved by forging new agreements with public and private sector partners. This will help us to attract further investment in affordable housing, in areas where it is needed the most.”

Denton said the group was “well placed” to withstand any shocks in the market, not least around the issue of a no deal Brexit.

“We have adopted stress testing beyond the standard Bank of England proposals and our “no-deal” stress testing concluded we have all the funding already in place, to not only meet our next five-year plan but to meet those objectives with the full stress applied,” Denton said.

As of March this year, the group had £606.6m liquidity, which Denton described as “an insurance policy.”