Harworth’s rise continues as £69.4m profit recorded
A £107m disposal to Microsoft in Leeds contributed to record revenue and land sales across 2024 for the Rotherham-headquartered property group, reporting its full year results today.
Pre-tax profit reached £69.4m, up from £49.8m in 2023. Revenue was £181.6m, up from £72.4m.
Harworth splits its financial figures into two broad business divisions. Of these, “capital growth” which primarily relates to the sale of development properties, contributed £160.1m to group revenue, with “income generation” contributing £21.5m.
Revenue from income generation mainly comprised property rental and royalty income from Harworth’s investment portfolio, natural resources and agricultural land.
Revenue of £21.5m was lower than the 2023 figure of £23.4m, reflecting the 2023 sale of investment properties and the successful sale of a site at Flaxby in early 2024, offset by income from the grade A Catalyst urban logistics site, acquired in October 2024.
Like-for-like headline rent from the investment portfolio increased by 4.9% during 2024 following new lettings, lease re-gears and rent reviews on existing assets.
Taking into account the acquisition of Catalyst and the letting of assets that practically completed during the year, total headline rental income for the investment portfolio increased by 24% to £17.5m at year-end.
Chief executive Lynda Shillaw said: “Harworth delivered record revenue and land sales in 2024, generating significant value gains, with EPRA NDV up 8.5% year on year. Our strong total accounting return of 9.1% is yet again among the best in the sector and the result of management actions, consistent with our focus on driving value as we continue to progress our sites through development.
As well as the Microsoft dal and a £53m disposal to Frasers Group for a new global HQ near Rugby, Harworth recorded record residential plot sales.
Shillaw continued: “Our performance continues to demonstrate the resilience of our through-the-cycle business model and highlights our ability to capitalise on emerging sectors, such as data centres, to accelerate our sites. The last four years of investment in strengthening our business to enable growth is bearing fruit and the business is performing across the board.”
Highlights picked out in the report included planning approvals being secured for 6.8m sq ft of industrial & logistics space, up from 2023’s 1.1m sq ft.
The 2024 figure includes 1.5m sq ft at Sleby’s Gascoigne Wood, increasing total consented space to 8.4m sq ft.
Planning approvals were also secured for 818 residential plots, taking total consented plots to 4,568 plots.
As to what lies ahead, Shillaw – keen to make Harworth as £1bn business – said: “While we remain cautious in light of the current macro-economic backdrop, our financial flexibility and careful capital allocation, and alignment to structurally undersupplied sectors fundamental to the UK’s growth, mean we are well placed to navigate uncertainty.
“Our consented pipeline and land bank and our ability to deliver at scale are significant strengths against a backdrop of site scarcity in our regions, and a planning system that remains sluggish as the reforms introduced by the government bed in.
“With a significant number of our sites coming on line for development, we are well positioned to continue to deliver strong returns, creating long-term value for our investors as we recycle capital to unlock the material underlying value of our land bank and increase the development of modern grade A industrial & logistics assets.”
