Financial sustainability

We have continued to invest in our homes, customer services and digital programme against a challenging economic backdrop.

The cost pressures experienced by us and the sector this year have been intense. Cost inflation was much higher than expected, especially around maintenance and construction activities. This has been exacerbated by a changing regulatory environment for both building safety and the green agenda, as well as increased demand from our customers.

Our core operating business saw reduced margins because of a variety of external factors. However, because of our financial strength, we’ve been able to make positive choices. We decided to increase our spend on repairs to meet customer demand. Other areas of additional spend included electrical inspections, communal heating, other utility cost increases and disrepairs.

Highlights

Operating surplus of £110m (2021/22: £111m)
Operating margin of 29.5% (2021/22: 29.6%)
Net assets of £807m (2021/22: £686m).

View and download our Financial statements for 2022/23 [PDF, 7MB]

Core operating business

Our core operating business has been hardest hit by the economic and sector challenges, generating a surplus and margin of £57.4m (2021/22: £81.7m). The lower margin is driven by significant inflationary cost increases, utility costs and higher demand for services to meet customers’ needs, while our income has been capped in accordance with rent regulations and reduced recoverability of costs from leaseholders.
Building safety

We continue to manage our costs and related recoveries efficiently, in response to the ongoing changes in regulations and industry practice. We’re also continuing to invest significantly in our buildings, to make sure they meet the highest safety standards, and have spent £86.7m since 2017.
Development and joint ventures

The total surplus for the year from development and joint ventures was £8m (2021/22: £13.4m) and £5.1m (2021/22: £0.2m), respectively. This was driven by a boost in sales in the first half of the year, which was offset by a softening in the market after the significant rise in interest rates in the autumn.
Disposals of housing properties

Disposals of housing properties include staircasing sales of shared ownership properties, disposals of empty homes no longer meeting customers’ needs and other asset sales, such as sales of homes to our strategic partnerships. The total surplus from disposals and related costs was £38.9m, which was higher than our 2021/22 surplus of £35m.