Member Article

Grainger's pretax profits soar to £84m mark as PRS strategy pays off

Newcastle-based Grainger, the UK’s largest listed residential landlord, has released a strong set of results for the year after announcing a strategic pivot and change of direction at the beginning of the year.

For the year ended 30 September 2016, the UK property giant has reported a 64% increase in pretax profits, up from £51.4m last year to £84.2m.

In January earlier this year Helen Gordon, Grainger’s new CEO, laid out a new strategic action plan to drive up rental income for the business, with an £850m investment into (private rented sector) PRS assets acting as the initiative’s fulcrum.

The firm revealed that its PRS pipeline is ahead of plan, with £389m of the investment target secured and a further £347m in the planning or legal process.

The company’s latest PRS acquisition was announced earlier this week for a £45.7m build-to-rent development at Finzels Reach in Bristol.

Helen Gordon, CEO of Grainger, explained: “FY16 has been a transformational year, with significant progress made in delivering our private rented sector growth strategy which we set out in January.

“We have secured £389m of investment, disposed of our non-core businesses, improved the capital structure of the company and reduced operational costs following an internal restructure.

“We have delivered strong financial results alongside these changes, with adjusted earnings increasing by 69% to £53.1m and a total return of 10.6%.

“The private rented sector growth opportunity is very compelling. With capacity to invest and a repositioned business, we are well placed to significantly improve our income and shareholder returns as we achieve our strategic objectives.

“The new financial year started well, we have secured new investments, further developed our PRS pipeline and the benefits are starting to come through from the actions taken to reduce costs.

“I am confident in our future prospects and Grainger’s new, simpler and more focused structure which has strengthened our business and competitive position. I look forward to providing further updates on our progress throughout the year.”

For further details of Grainger’s latest results or to read more from Helen and key stakeholders,click here.