Clarion Funding plc

19 December 2023

Interim Report and Accounts for the period ended 30 September 2023

Clarion Housing Group has today published its Interim Report and Accounts for the period ended 30 September 2023.

The auditor reviewed accounts for the first half of the financial year 2023/24 show a turnover of £486 million (22/23 £481 million), and an operating surplus of £109 million (22/23 £150 million). The reduction in operating surplus has been primarily driven by a lower surplus on disposals, reflecting the Group's prudent approach in light of the economic climate, and the large stock disposal that occurred in the first six months of the prior year. Other factors included a lower surplus on development sales and higher operating costs, although the majority of the operating cost increases were substantially offset by higher rental income following the 7% rent increase.     

The Group has continued to invest significantly in its existing homes, with £205 million spent on improving and maintaining homes by the end of September 2023 - an increase from £167 million the prior year. £234 million was also invested in our new homes programme - lower than previous years due to the continued cautious approach adopted due to challenging market conditions.

Key operational highlights included the in-sourcing of our day-to-day repairs service in Merton and Kent, meaning that 100% of our homes are now looked after by our in-house repairs division, Clarion Response. Our overall customer satisfaction is above our target at 82.5%, and customer satisfaction for repairs is also above target at 89.4 %.

The services delivered by the Group's charitable foundation, Clarion Futures, remain as vital as ever and since April, it has delivered £62 million in social value, including supporting over 1,000 residents into employment.

Mark Hattersley, Chief Financial Officer at Clarion Housing Group, commented:

"There is no doubt the external operating environment has continued to be challenging over the first six months of the year, and we have needed to carefully navigate this while we balance competing priorities such as investment in our existing homes and building more desperately needed new homes.

Our latest results demonstrate a resilient performance in spite of this and we have a number of achievements to be proud of.  We remain well-placed to maintain this performance to the end of the financial year."

Ends

For more information, please contact Lucy Pond, Senior Communications Manager: [email protected].