Housing association moves back into deficit following reduced costs
The Guinness Partnership did not complete more than a third of its targeted homes in the 2025/26 financial year.
The G15 landlord, in its annual financial statement, said it completed 793 homes in the year to 31 March. This was up from the 699 completed the previous year but a long way off its original target of 1,281 completions.
The landlord said: “We completed fewer homes than originally targeted due to Building Safety Regulator Gateway 2 and building control sign-off delays which have also led to some schemes progressing more slowly than anticipated.”
The group started work on 239 homes, beating its target of 175 and it said that as of 31 March it had more than 2,400 homes on site.
Guinness’ overall turnover fell slightly by 1.1%, from £534.7m to £528.9m. A £19m increase in social housing lettings income was offset by a £12.9m drop in shared ownership first tranche sales revenue and an £11.7m fall in income from market sales. The group also saw a £4.4m drop in income as a result of its decision to exit care services.
The group however moved back into surplus for the year. It reported a surplus of £10.9m, compared to a £10.8m deficit in 2024/25.
Guinness was boosted by a drop in operating costs, which fell £14m to £423m.
It said: “This reduction reflects lower expenditure following the exit from care services, lower impairment charges in 2025/26 and a decrease in leasehold building safety costs, driven by the release of provisions following confirmation of grant funding and reduced spend as projects near completion (with remaining spend expected to conclude in 2026/27).” Its cost of sales also fell by £24.2m.
Guinness was again hit by impairment charges on schemes under development. It reported impairments totalling £17.4m, down on the £21.4m recorded the previous year.
It said the charges “reflect a combination of lower sales values due to a challenging sales market in some parts of the country, increasing construction costs and delays to completion of schemes.”
Guinness improved its overall operating margin from 10.3% to 16.6%, while its group EBITDA MRI interest cover according to the Regulator of Social Housing’s definition rose from 31.3% to 71.7%. The group invested £206.3m in the year on improving existing homes, the same figure as the previous year.
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