The company completed 10 schemes encompassing 3,819 beds in the financial year just ended, and has 21 developments with over 6,800 beds slated for delivery during 2017 and 2018. The pipeline beyond 2018 is equally robust given that sites with capacity for over 2,000 beds have been secured, a quarter of which will be developed at a £100m scheme in Stratford, east London.
Bearing this in mind, the company has just forward sold three schemes to institutional investors in Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast. These have a total of 1,161 beds and are slated for delivery in August 2018, ahead of the 2018-19 academic year. Forward selling sites reduces the working capital requirements of the company as the end-purchaser, usually a blue-chip institution, funds the development and is billed on a monthly basis, as opposed to a non-forward sold development where revenue is only received on sale of the asset post completion. Watkin Jones also enters into asset management contracts, usually for a seven-year term, with these investors when the properties are handed over on completion of the build.