Watkin Jones names new CFO

Build-to-rent specialist Watkin Jones said on Tuesday that the underlying operating residential rental market "continues to perform well" throughout H1 and named a new chief financial officer.

Watkin Jones said its interim performance has been "driven substantially" by its contractually secure forward-sold developments, where project margins of roughly 10% were in line with the guidance provided at the time of its FY23 results.

It also said the underlying operational residential rent market continues to perform well, with both strong tenant demand and rental growth in its core sectors. Alongside this, it also saw the wider real estate investment market and appetite for forward funds continuing to recover gradually, off a low base.

"We continue to focus on the delivery of our building safety rectification obligations and have completed works on three buildings in the period with cash spend in line with expectations. As previously reported, there remains significant uncertainty in this area across the sector and, as for many other participants in our industry, assets in scope and the scope and cost of works continue to evolve," said Watkin Jones. "Based on developments in the period to date, our provision remains unchanged and we will continue to monitor this as discussions with building owners and building investigations continue."

Separately, Watkin Jones announced that Sarah Sergeant, will step down as CFO in mid-June 2024 and will be replaced by Simon Jones, who will join the group as CFO-designate on 21 May.

As of 1630 BST, Watkin Jones shares were up 8.61% at 43.88p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com