Housing association giant reduces development spend in 鈥渃autious approach鈥�
Clarion鈥檚 surplus has fallen 45% due to the failure of a contractor, refinancing costs and a cyber-attack, it has announced.
The housing association giant, in a quarterly trading update today, said its pre-tax surplus for the 2022/23 financial year was 拢101m, down from 拢186m the previous year.
The 125,000-home provider said it had faced a one-off interest charge of 拢45m as part of a debt restructuring, lost 拢24m in impairment costs due to 鈥榗ontractor failure鈥�, while last summer鈥檚 cyber-attack, which forced its IT network offline, cost it 拢17m. Work on Clarion鈥檚 152-home, 17-storey Boatyard development in Bristol was delayed last summer following the collapse of offsite contractor Mid Group.
The firm鈥檚 turnover remained broadly stable at just over 拢1bn.
Clarion completed 2,032 homes in the year to 2022/23, down from its record 2,276 reported the previous year.
It cut its investment in new homes from 拢583m to 拢456.8m year-on-year as it adopted a 鈥渕ore cautious approach in recognition of challenging market conditions鈥�. Sales income from market sale and shared ownership fell from 拢307.4m to 拢219.6m year-on-year.
>>See also: Can HAs again keep development going as the rest of the market slows?
Clarion, which was last year criticised over standards in some of its homes, increased its annual spend on existing properties by 8%, from 拢136m to 拢148m.
The Housing Ombudsman last year found two cases of severe maladministration against Clarion and housing secretary Michael Gove called for it to improve.
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