St Modwen in £200m homes deal
PROPERTY developer St Modwen today unveiled a major deal to transform a former steelworks into homes and shops as it posted its eleventh year of record profits.
Birmingham-based St Modwen said it was in its 'strongest position ever' as its estate continued to grow on strong demand in the distribution, retail and residential sectors.
The latest deal will see £200m invested to build a mix of commercial, leisure and residential properties at the Llanwern steelworks site, near Newport in South Wales.
St Modwen acquired the site from steel group Corus, which retained a large holding of land at Llanwern including the operational steelworks.
The group posted a 17% hike in pre-tax profits to £35m for the year to November 30 and said it has made a strong start to the current financial year.
Property deals had already added profits of more than £20m to its balance sheet, including the disposal of its investment in Pubmaster to Punch Taverns, which generated a £4.9m gain.
The regeneration specialist named its new boardroom team following the decision by Sir Stanley Clarke to retire as chairman after 18 years. It said Anthony Glossop would step up from his current dual role of chairman and chief executive to replace Sir Stanley.
Managing director Bill Oliver will take over as chief executive.
Sir Stanley said the group's 'hopper' of development opportunities had reached record levels.
Major acquisitions included the former Britannia Zinc site at Avonmouth and a sale-and-leaseback deal with MG Rover at its Longbridge plant.
Progress was expected this year on town centre schemes at Edmonton, Farnborough and Wembley, a heritage development at Stoke and a factory outlet project and superstore at Walsall.
St Modwen posted turnover of £123m for the year against £108m last year and opted to lift its total dividend by 16% to 6.6p.
It increased profits from property development and disposals by 5% to £25.2m, with eight projects contributing more than £1m each.
A national requirement that 60% of new housing must be built on previously used land had boosted its portfolio of brownfield sites, St Modwen said.
During the year, it completed the ground reclamation process at Norton Colliery in Stoke, with demolition of site buildings due to begin this year.
Progress was also made in its property-related investment in Northern Racing, with its 35% holding exchanged for a 27.2% stake in AIM-listed Chepstow Racecourse.
The company added it had made full provision in its accounts against a scheme to redevelop the derelict West Pier at Brighton, which stalled following the loss of lottery funding last month. St Modwen needs to raise £19m for work on the pier.
