Page 39 - Housing Solutions Annual Report

METRIC 4: EBITDA (MRI) %
Although our average cost of debt at c. 4.3% is in line with the sector generally, our EBITDA margins on
turnover excluding asset sales are much higher, reflecting a combination of tight cost controls and diversified
income stream within our geographic footprint. Our interest cover, whilst in the lower quartile, is still well above
our loan covenants set by lenders and golden rule level set by Board.

300%
250%
200% 223% 238%
207%
150% 184%
164%
100% 139% 146% 139%
50%
0%
Peer Lower Peer Middle Peer Upper Sector Lower Sector Middle Sector Upper Housing Housing
Quartile Quartile Quartile Quartile Quartile Quartile Solutions Solutions
2019 2019 2019 2019 2019 2019 2018/19 2019/20

METRIC 5: Headline Social Housing Cost per Unit

During 2019/20 we continued our focus on health and safety, investing over £1m in fire safety in our properties,
whilst also investing in our planned works programme.
We believe there are opportunities to reduce our social housing costs and we have strengthened our
approach to procurement, identifying key areas for delivery of savings. During 2019/20 we have brought
in additional procurement expertise, achieving £216,000 of savings during the year. We expect to deliver
further procurement savings of circa £390,000 in 2020/21. It is recognised that our financial transformation
contributed to increased costs from the previous year and work has been undertaken to recruit permanent
members of staff, reducing our reliance on interim finance staff.

£5,000
£4,000 £4,690
£4,151
£3,000 £3,676 £3,119 £3,180 £3,690 £3,421 £3,549
£2,000
£1,000
£0
Peer Lower Peer Middle Peer Upper Sector Lower Sector Middle Sector Upper Housing Housing
Quartile Quartile Quartile Quartile Quartile Quartile Solutions Solutions
2019 2019 2019 2019 2019 2019 2018/19 2019/20

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