THE HILL GROUP DELIVERS RECORD RESULTS IN 2021

We recently released our financial accounts for the year ended 2021, having posted record revenue of £753m, an uplift of 15% on the year before, and net profits of £65.1m, up 47% on the previous year. In 2021, we completed 2,318 homes, and have 8,300 homes in our development pipeline.

Planning for the future

We have an ambitious five-year business plan to double 2020 turnover to £1.2bn by 2025. The accounts for 2021 show that we are well-placed to achieve this objective, with a strong balance sheet showing £163m of net cash, with net assets having grown to £273m.

In the past year, we've made a series of structural changes to the business to create a platform for sustainable growth, with substantial headroom in financial and operational capacity for continued growth in the pipeline. In December 2021, we completed the refinancing of our revolving credit facility via a sustainability-linked loan (SLL) valued at £220m, with interest tied to our sustainability performance. Our new SLL is a clear demonstration of the confidence leading banks have in our business model and our reputation as one of the UK’s leading sustainable developers.

Performance has once again been strong in our core business, bringing high-quality housing to market, either as a private developer, joint venture partner, or as a partner to various residential providers. This year has also seen us bidding for, winning, and delivering more extensive and ambitious projects - especially widescale regeneration schemes - which will assist in driving our planned growth."

Andy Hill, Chief Executive Officer of The Hill Group

Commitment to sustainability

Our commitment to sustainability is further underlined by the introduction of a progressive Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) strategy, now embedded within our core business principles. The strategy sets out a number of ambitious targets - including net zero carbon in business operations and net zero operational carbon in the homes we build by 2030 - all ensure full, ongoing transparency in our annual performance.

NextGeneration Sustainability Benchmarking

Further structural changes include the formation of an Executive Committee. This draws upon the experience of seven directors from across the business, including four members of our Holdings Board, and finance, operations, and sales. As we continue to expand, the new structure ensure we remain dexterous across all operational areas, while retaining the agility of a privately owned company.

All our regional operations continued to perform remarkably well during 2021 despite the many labour and material issues our industry has faced. Our Bristol-based team are now on site with their first projects, and we plan to continue regional expansion with a further regional operation being set up in the Midlands over the coming months.

Continued momentum

Residential sales have continued to exceed our expectations across the whole portfolio, with exceptional results being achieved at both Knights Park and Marleigh, to name but two developments where demand has outstripped supply.

We carry impressive momentum into 2022 – where we expect financial performance to be similar to that in 2021 in line with our business plan – before sustained growth resumes towards our 2025 targets as we enter our next period of planned growth.