Bullish Harworth doubles down on Bolton

The developer is looking to build on its success at Logistics North with development at nearby Wingates, having acquired three parcels of land totalling 73 acres.

According Harworth’s half-year results, released yesterday, the sites could house up to 2.4m sq ft of employment space. Chief executive Owen Michaelson said: “The land is situated at junction 6 of the M61, close to our existing Logistics North development, bordering 221 acres of land that we already own.” Wingates is well established as a distribution location.

The first half of 2017 saw Harworth report continued double-digit growth in net asset value, with NAV recorded at 30 June 2016 at £377m. The group reported profit from operations of £1m for the first six months and said that full-year forecasts are in line with expectations.

Harworth added that its policy of prudent gearing had been maintained, with net loan to value of 2.5%.

In March this year, Harworth raised £27.1m, all of which should be committed by year end. The Wingates deal was one of three completed in August, with the combined total being £16.3m. Options have been signed on two further North West sites and preferred bidder status secured on four sites across the North West, Yorkshire and Midlands.

The year so far has been successful for Logistics North. Mail business Whistl has moved into a 225,000 sq ft unit, let on behalf of M&G Real Estate, while steelwork is now out of the ground on Multiply, a phase that will see 10 units totalling 564,000 sq ft built over two years, developed in partnership with Lancashire County Pension Fund.

Michaelson said: “We have had another strong first half, with good progress being made in all of our key business areas.

“We are well advanced with deploying the new capital raised in March and expect to have committed all the proceeds by the year end on strategic land sites. Our future acquisitions pipeline remains strong and we continue to rationalise our portfolio, with the intention of reducing our sites under management to less than 100 within two years.

“The economic potential of the regions in which we operate remains good and the long-term market fundamentals are solid.”

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