Mount Anvil reports sharp rise in profit for 2022

London-based regeneration specialist Mount Anvil has reported a sharp rise in profit for the 2022 with the firm stating it was “largely unaffected” by construction cost rises and market uncertainty.

In full year accounts filed at Companies House, Mount Anvil reported a pre-tax profit increase of 59% to £6.3m, on the back of turnover of £245m, up 22%. The firm said in the accounts statement the increase in turnover was due to large numbers of sale completions at its 796-home Royal Eden Docks scheme, which it is developing in joint venture with the owner of the Excel exhibition centre.

Demand for homes, it said in the statement “remains strong”, despite the recent downturn in the market, while improvements in Mount Anvil’s sales and marketing strategy had resulted, it added, “in a record-breaking number of pre-sold homes”, which meant the firm had already secured all of its targeted 2023 sales.

Mount Anvil, which was set up in the 1990s by Irish entrepreneur Killian Hurley, said pre-selling homes did create risk around build cost inflation, but that Mount Anvil managed this “where necessary through optimisation of our schemes”.

Hurley told Housing Today he ws “proud” of the results, which he described as a “another milestone” in its history of partnership working in the capital.

The firm, which primarily works with housing associations on estate regeneration projects, built 386 homes through joint ventures in the calendar year, down from 442 in the previous year. The bulk of Mount Anvil’s revenue for the year – £148m of the £245m – came from contracting work, it said. The firm, which has a £50m joint venture deal with the Great London Authority to fund its schemes, typically works as contractor for the joint venture developments it is a development partner in.

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The firm added that: “The Group has continued to be largely unaffected by Brexit or the impacts of the war in Ukraine during the year including labour supply and cost inflation.

“Our pre-sold sales position remains strong and to date has been largely unaffected”.

The firm made a £5.7m provision in the year to cover “remedial works on legacy schemes”, taking the firm’s total provision in the last two years for scheme repairs to £17.5m. It spent £2.6m in the year on undertaking the repairs themselves.

Last October the firm received planning permission for a 1,228-home redevelopment of the Friary Park estate in Acton, west London, in partnership with Catalyst. Earlier this year it broke ground on the 914-home Barnsbury Estate regeneration project in Islington.

In 2021 the business recommitted to only working in London after writing down £4.3m relating to a share of losses on the £250m Kampus build to rent project in Manchester.

Killian Hurley, CEO of Mount Anvil, said: “We’ve continued our focus on estate transformation in the capital and are proud to be using our unique £50m investment partnership with the GLA to keep building the homes that Londoners need. Residents are at the heart of all that we do – a personal highlight this year has been welcoming families into high quality homes on three of our live joint venture partnerships, in Whitechapel, the Royal Docks and at our Friary Park transformation in Ealing.”

Regarding the provisions, he said: “Like the rest of the industry, we’re assessing the impact of legislative changes on our buildings, and that takes time. We make provisions in our accounts to make sure that if costs arise that are within our control, these don’t fall to residents.