Forward Sale of St. Mungo Avenue, Glasgow

RNS Number : 5671L

Watkin Jones plc

04 October 2016

 

For immediate release

4 October 2016

Watkin Jones plc

('Watkin Jones' or the 'Group')

Forward Sale of St. Mungo Avenue, Glasgow

Watkin Jones plc (AIM:WJG), a leading UK developer and constructor of multi occupancy property assets, with a focus on the student accommodation sector, announces today that it has forward sold its development in St. Mungo Avenue, Glasgow to a new institutional investor for an undisclosed fee.

The St. Mungo Avenue development is a 1.07 acre site which occupies a prominent position at the corner of St. Mungo Avenue and St. James Road to the east of Glasgow City centre and in close proximity to the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow Caledonian University and the City of Glasgow College.  The seven storey 349 bed scheme (176 cluster bedrooms and 173 studios) is due for delivery in August 2018, ahead of the 2018-19 academic year. 

Mark Watkin Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Watkin Jones plc, said:  "We are delighted to announce today that we have forward sold to a new institutional investor our St. Mungo's scheme in Glasgow.  With three main universities in Glasgow servicing more than 65,000 higher education students there is significant demand for accommodation within the City.  The demand for purpose built student accommodation is higher than levels seen at comparable UK university cities, and we are delighted to be developing in Glasgow.

"The scheme will be developed to a high specification including excellent shared space and amenities including a cinema room, two common room areas, gym and roof terrace.  Glasgow ranks amongst the top ten UK university towns and on completion of St. Mungo Avenue, Watkin Jones will have delivered over 3,000 beds across six schemes in Glasgow since 2011."

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For further information:

Watkin Jones plc
Mark Watkin Jones, Chief Executive Officer	Tel: [phone]
Phil Byrom, Chief Financial Officer	www.watkinjonesplc.com
Zeus Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker)
Corporate Finance
Dan Bate / Nick Cowles / Jamie Peel		Tel: [phone]
Corporate Broking		Tel: [phone]
Dominic King / Benjamin Robertson		www.zeuscapital.co.uk
Peel Hunt LLP (Joint Broker)		Tel: [phone]
Mike Bell / Matthew Brooke-Hitching		www.peelhunt.com

Media enquiries:

Buchanan
Henry Harrison-Topham / Richard Oldworth / Jamie Hooper	Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]	www.buchanan.uk.com

Notes to Editors

Watkin Jones is a leading UK developer and constructor of multi occupancy property assets, with a focus on the student accommodation sector.  The Group has strong relationships with institutional investors, and a good reputation for successful, on-time-delivery of high quality developments.  Since 1999, Watkin Jones has delivered over 31,800 student beds across 98 sites, making it a key player and leader in the UK purpose built student accommodation market.  In addition, Watkin Jones has been responsible for over 50 residential developments, ranging from starter homes to executive housing and apartments.

The Group's competitive advantage lies in its experienced management team and business model, which enables it to offer an end to end solution for investors, delivered entirely in-house with minimal reliance on third parties, across the entire life cycle of an asset.  Key components of the business model are:

·     Site identification - extensive experience of site identification and acquisition facilitates high quality sites being acquired;

·     Planning consents - in depth knowledge and experience of the planning consent process specific to this type of asset facilitates high success rates on planning applications;

·     In-house construction and delivery - in-house construction expertise, management and delivery limits reliance on third parties and, together with favourable contractual relationships with key suppliers, enhances control of cost;

·     Funding structure - forward sale model reduces risk for Watkin Jones and provides security and visibility of the asset pipeline for investors.  The Group has strong relationships with blue chip investors, including a number that are repeat investors in Watkin Jones developments; and

·     Asset management - dedicated property management division provides a continued service solution to investors post development completion and completes the 'end to end' business model.

 

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