PERFORMANCE AND GOVERNANCE
Financial review
A summary of our financial position at the end of the 2024/25 financial year.
Treasury management
At 31 March 2025, Amplius had agreed loan facilities totalling £1.50bn, of which £1.25bn was drawn and £248m undrawn at the reporting date. Loans totalling £871m are managed through the organisation’s three special purpose vehicles, Libra (Longhurst Group) Treasury plc, Libra (Longhurst Group) Treasury Nº 2 plc and Grand Union Funding plc, with the balance of £380m being held directly within Amplius.
During the year, as part of the merger consent process, Amplius took the opportunity to harmonise covenants across the portfolio.
Amplius is currently in the process of appointing new treasury advisors following the merger and a new treasury strategy will follow in the summer of 2025.
Group loan facilities
The total committed loan facilities of £1.50bn at 31 March 2025 represents an increase on the previous year (2024: £1.43bn). The movement in agreed facilities is due to renewal of maturing facilities (completed in June 2024) and the increase of one of Amplius’ revolving credit facilities in March 2025. Amplius maintains three sustainability-linked loans representing total funding of £295m. Each of these facilities includes three key performance indicators linked to environmental, social and governance targets, aligning with our commitment to improving the lives of our customers and protecting and enhancing the communities we serve. Key performance indicators are assessed on legacy organisations’ performance to March 2025 and targets for Amplius as a merged entity
will be set for 2026 performance onwards. The increase in revolving credit facilities described above, together with existing undrawn revolving facilities from legacy organisations prior to merger, provides sufficient liquidity for Amplius as determined within our new treasury management policy. In total, £384.9m of total committed facilities have been either issued or are managed under group loan facilities by Libra (Longhurst Group) Treasury plc, £350m by Libra (Longhurst Group) Treasury Nº 2 plc and £136m by Grand Union Group Funding plc. Our treasury management approach to hedging activity provides flexibility within agreed parameters as defined within the treasury management policy. This ensures Amplius generates value from its treasury activities whilst providing sufficient protection against interest rate risks.
The exact proportion of fixed rate borrowings (where the rate is fixed for 12 months or more) is set each year when the Board agrees our annual treasury policy. The level of fixed rate debt is determined by analysing how sensitive the organisation’s cashflow forecast is to fluctuations in prevailing market interest rates, but subject always to us having at least 70 percent of our net position subject to fixed rates of interest, on a rolling five-year average basis. We ensure that no more than 100 percent of our net exposure is fixed at any time. RIGHT Total committed funding 2024/25
Fixed vs variable debt
Liquidity at 31 March 2025
Hedging activity
The organisation’s hedging activity is within the treasury management policy’s agreed parameters, with a total of 84 percent fixed through a combination of embedded fixed rates and standalone derivatives. The ratio of fixed rate debt has reduced during the year because of revolving facility drawings, along with scheduled capital repayments of fixed debt.
Liquidity
At 31 March 2025, Amplius had available cash of £21.7m (2024: £21.7m) of which £6.8m (2024: £6.1m) related to service charge balances held on behalf of leaseholders. We had £248.0m (2024: £270.3m) of undrawn secured facilities available to draw. Our liquidity position remains strong, with sufficient cash and facilities to fund operational and capital expenditure for the next financial year and beyond.
Debt repayment profile
The majority of our loans have been arranged under long-term facilities with 77 percent of drawn facilities being for five years and beyond. The balance of 23 percent consists of short-term facilities with a final repayment date of within five years. The repayment profile for the drawn and undrawn debt held across Amplius is summarised in the chart to the right. In total, 64 percent of committed facilities mature in more than five years, the majority of which relate to the three bonds maturing in August 2038 (£250m), May 2043 (£350m) and December 2043 (£136m). Of the £44.4m committed with a repayment profile of within one year, £30m relates to revolving credit facilities.
Interest rate exposure
At 31 March 2025, Amplius had standalone interest rate swap exposure of £1m (2024: £2.2m), based on £52.5m (2024: £52.5m) of notional paying fixed rate and receiving three-month SONIA. All of our interest rate swaps allow for the mark to market (M2M) position to be covered by either property assets or cash.
The unsecured threshold of £10m covered the M2M position at 31 March 2025. There’s further uncharged security allocated, should the M2M position surpass this threshold. The Amplius treasury management policy is reviewed and approved annually and incorporates our objectives relating to treasury management activities together with policies and practices.
Review of financial performance
Our merger completed on 16 December 2024, via a transfer of engagements of Longhurst Group into Grand Union Housing Group. On the same date, the trading name of Grand Union Housing Group was changed to Amplius Living (‘Amplius’). The financial performance is presented for 2024/25 and 2023/24 on a pro forma basis, having been combined through the application of merger accounting. Management has concluded, in accordance with FRS 102, that this is the most appropriate accounting treatment for the business combination.
For the year ended 31 March 2025, Amplius delivered a consolidated post-tax surplus of £34.4m, a significant increase from £13.0m in 2023/24. The financial results for both years are presented on a pro forma basis to reflect the merger of Longhurst Group and Grand Union through the application of merger accounting, which management determined to be the most appropriate approach in accordance with FRS 102. Total turnover for the year increased by 12% to £297.2m (2024: £266.8m), driven primarily by inflation-linked rent uplifts within our social housing lettings portfolio and a strong performance from first tranche shared ownership sales. Turnover from social housing lettings remained stable as a proportion of total income at 80%, in line with budget expectations. The improved financial result was further supported by a £11.2m gain on disposal of housing properties (2024: £5.6m), primarily attributable to Shared Ownership staircasing and other housing property sales. These gains, combined with increased turnover and a measured rise in costs, contributed to an improved operating margin of 24.6%, up from 19.4% in the prior year.
While inflationary pressures continue to affect our cost base, the year-on-year increase in operating costs was lower than previous years. Operating margin improvements were also supported by favourable adjustments arising from the harmonisation of accounting policies, particularly in relation to bad debts and depreciation. However, routine maintenance costs remained elevated due to sustained demand. We invested £40.4m (2024: £35.1m) in capital works across our existing homes, including the replacement of 797 kitchens and 689 bathrooms, underscoring our ongoing commitment to the Decent Homes Standard. Despite this, overall investment in our existing homes fell short of our plans for 2024/25. We’re committed to better understanding our homes and we’re part way through a full stock condition refresh. This exercise will provide a complete understanding of the condition of all our homes and shape our future asset investment planning. In line with our environmental objectives, Amplius invested a further £12.3m (2024: £5.7m) in decarbonisation works, supported by £3.8m (2024: £2.5m) in grant funding through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, now known as the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund.
These works are targeted at upgrading homes to at least EPC band C, reducing carbon emissions, and tackling fuel poverty. To date, almost 600 homes have been improved under this programme. In addition, we successfully secured £20.3m in new grant funding under Wave Three of the scheme, which we’ll match. This will enable a total investment of over £40m in energy efficiency improvements across thousands of homes by 2028. Financing costs increased modestly to £48.6m (2024: £47.0m), reflecting a higher level of borrowings, despite a decrease in the average interest rate to 4.57% (2024: 4.85%). The increase in debt levels is primarily attributable to the net impact of revolving facility drawings and loan facilities maturing.
Total debt rose to £1.25billion (2024: £989m) as at 31 March 2025. The net book value of fixed assets increased by £179m, reaching £2.4 billion at year-end. This reflects significant investment in the development of new homes, with 896 units completed during the year. The pension liability decreased to £11.0m (2024: £16.9m), influenced by actuarial assumptions including a higher discount rate, lower inflation expectations, and updated life expectancy data. The net asset position for the LGPS scheme also showed improvement. Finally, the cash flow hedge reserve decreased by a further £1.2m to £1m, due to movements in swap rates over the course of the year.