Sigma Capital eyes market expansion

The private rental sector specialist has said it plans to grow its markets in South Manchester and Preston in order to maintain its year-on-year growth, reported in its half year results published today.

There are 56 sites in the North West, 33 funded by Sigma’s PRS REIT, with plans to expand further around Greater Manchester and Liverpool.

It currently has plots in Oldham, Walkden, Wigan, Newton-le-Willows, Runcorn and St Helens.

Sigma reported a pre-tax profit of £4.3m for the six months up to 30 June 2019. This marks a 3% increase on the same period last year, which clocked in at £4.2m. The company also recorded a £5.8m revenue, which is 19% up on last year, when it reported a turnover of £4.8m.

The most recent site to begin construction is with partner Countryside Homes in Rochdale. The £35m scheme is set to deliver 264 homes across four sites. These will be a mix of two-, three- and four-bedroom houses and 48 apartments, due to complete by the end of 2020.

Nationally, there are 3,731 homes under construction for Sigma, which represents a gross development value of almost £600m.

Sigma’s continued growth was sparked by the creation of PRS REIT in 2017, which quadrupled its pre-tax profits from £1m in the first half of 2017 to £4.2m in the first half of 2018. The company plans to maintain this growth by expanding further across the UK, including into Scotland’s PRS market.

91% of PRS REIT’s £900m net funds are now contracted and Sigma expect to contract the remaining balance over the coming months.

It also plans to expand lettings arm Simple Life to offer more property management across its sites.

In order to combat the political uncertainty around Brexit, both from its initial March deadline and its October one, Sigma said it worked to get “more planning applications through various councils than ever before” in order to maintain its traction.

Graham Barnet, chief executive of Sigma, said: “The effectiveness of our model for large-scale delivery of family homes for the private rental market is now firmly established. In May, we delivered our 1,000^th home for the PRS REIT, just two years after its launch and delivery is increasing as development sites complete.

“We expect to commit the balance of the PRS REIT’s net funds to further sites over the next few months and have seven of our own self-funded developments under way.”