Just days after it announced it was about to start work on its latest £1bn regeneration project, developer St Modwen has reported a record breaking 68 per cent rise in its annual profits.
In its accounts to the end of last November, the Birmingham-based property investment and reclamation specialist revealed it had made pre-tax profits £138.1m, an increase of £55.9m on the previous year. St Modwen’s property profits also rose by 45 per cent, up from 2013’s £39.8m to almost £58m.
Commenting on the figures chief executive, Bill Oliver, said: “This has been an exceptional year for St Modwen and we have achieved significant progress across all of our major projects as well as increasing our active pipeline of commercial development opportunities to over three-million square feet of space.”
Oliver explained the residential element of his firm’s business continued to perform well with good sales rates achieved throughout the year. “We anticipate a sustained performance into 2015,” he added.
“Across the UK, we continued to grow the business, capitalising on the upturn in the regional property market and we look forward to continuing this level of success throughout the coming year.”
St Modwen’s biggest single project is the 20-year regeneration of the 600-acre former Llanwern Steelworks site to the east of Newport in South Wales. Last week the company confirmed it expected to make a spring start on the Celtic Business Park scheme after submitting infrastructure plans and details of the site’s first speculative commercial unit.
The 50,000 sq ft warehouse or industrial building is being constructed for purchase or rent on the 100-acre Glan Llyn business estate, which will occupy around a sixth of the former steelworks site.
“We are committed to helping make Newport an attractive place for inward business investment and jobs,” explained Pete Davies, senior development manager at St. Modwen.
“Our Glan Llyn development is a £1bn sustainable new community, which is being developed over the next 20 years to provide a place where people can live, work and relax for generations to come.
“Getting the green light to start work on the business park is the next step in attracting investment from businesses across the UK looking to expand or relocate operations in the area,” Davies added, while stressing the site’s proximity to Junction 23a of the M4 motorway “will make it the perfect choice for logistics and distribution firms as well as local businesses seeking prime real estate in order to flourish and grow”.
When completed, sometime around 2035, St Modwen claims the entire regeneration project would have created at least 6,000 jobs and provided 4,000 new homes.
St Modwen — which has a portfolio of more than 180 property investments and development sites across the UK — currently has five projects underway in South Wales worth around £2.75bn. These include the sustainable community of Coed Darcy and the £450m Swansea University Bay Campus which opens for students this September.
