Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) has recorded a surplus of £98.1m, exceeding our budget for the year, as well as completing almost 2,000 new homes, bringing the total number of homes owned or managed to more than 66,000.
We will use our surplus, as reported in our annual report and financial statements published today (28 August 2020) to invest in our existing homes as well as continuing our programme of creating more homes across London. We had already scaled back our development programme in light of the uncertainty in the housing sales market before the start of the 2019/20 financial year, but still managed to complete 1,962 new homes by 31 March 2020.
The results show the annual surplus decreased by £6m to £98.1m, compared with £104.1m in the previous year. Turnover from non-sales activities increased by £14.5m to £550.2m while associated operating costs decreased by £6.4m to £418.2m as a result of savings made through our integration following merger. So the core operating surplus increased to £122.0m. Although our surplus from sales also increased by £7.4m to £31.6m, there were lower gains in the values of our investment properties and an increase in net financing costs.
Because the UK lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic began just a week before year-end, there was little impact on our activities for 2019/20. We continue to monitor the key risks which could be adversely affected by the pandemic, but remain a financially strong organisation, with liquidity of £569m at 31 March 2020.
Paul Phillips, Group Director of Finance, said, "Achieving this level of surplus is a solid achievement given the prevailing market conditions during 2019/20 and gives us the financial strength to invest in our existing homes and continue providing the affordable homes so needed by lower-income households.
“These results give our customers, investors and other stakeholders confidence in our ability not only to withstand challenges within the housing sector but also to continue to deliver homes for a range of needs across the capital and beyond.”