Housing firm increases turnover by £33m despite COVID-19 disruption

London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q) has seen a turnover increase of £33m in its first quarter of 2020 despite the COVID-19 crisis.

In a trading update issued today, the housing association has reported a turnover of £209m for the three months ending June 30, up from £178m in Q1 2019.

Sales as a percentage of turnover dipped to 25 per cent, from 46 per cent the previous year, reflecting the disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

In addition the firm completed 150 new residential units in Q1, compared with 691 in the previous year’s first quarter.

Waqar Ahmed, group director of finance, commented: “As expected, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused a significant amount of disruption to our business, particularly on construction sites which has led, and will continue to lead to handover delays of new residential units.

“However, through the decisive actions taken as announced in our last trading statement released on 15 May 2020, we have demonstrated resilience and flexibility in order to conserve cash flows whilst fulfilling our commitments to our customers.

“Our Q1 trading results demonstrate the strength of our core operations and improving activity in the sales market that gives us the confidence to release forward guidance. Whilst economic uncertainty still exists, we remain confident that L&Q retains the financial flexibility to adapt supported by our strong balance sheet and liquidity position.”