McCarthy & Stone amends credit facility terms

FTSE 250 retirement housebuilder McCarthy & Stone has amended the terms of its £200m revolving credit facility.

McCarthy said the amendment has resulted in improved commercial terms, including the extension of the facility's maturity from 19 December 2019 to 23 May 2021, and improved margin terms, which will save the company around £1m a year in interest expense.

The size of the facility remains unchanged and the group reaffirmed its intention to maintain a strong balance sheet with appropriate headroom against the facility.

Chief financial officer Nick Maddock said: “This timely refinancing demonstrates the strong and ongoing support of McCarthy & Stone's relationship banks. It allows us to benefit from the prevailing favourable market conditions and extend our debt maturity on more cost-effective terms.

“The new arrangement supports our £2.5bn investment programme and our medium-term strategic objective of building and selling more than 3,000 units per annum by 2019."

At 1020 BST, McCarthy & Stone shares were down 0.4% to 238.30p.