Brownfield developer St Modwen surges to record profits

It was boosted by a string of successes for its building projects and rising values for both its housing and commercial sites as the UK property market continued to recover.

Its £1 billion redevelopment of the former MG Rover factory site in Longbridge has created a new town centre. It has become St Modwen's flagship project and the company moved its headquarters to the site last year. St Modwen is also building A 150,000 sq ft Marks & Spencer store there is due to be open in time for next Christmas.

It has also secured planning permission for its £2 billion New Covent Garden Market redevelopment in London's Nine Elms.

St Modwen is continuing with its 10-year £150m redevelopment of the Goodyear factory site in Wolverhampton, where 600 homes will be built eventually. In Walsall town centre its 90,000 sq ft St Matthews Quarter shopping development is due for completion next year.

Bill Oliver, chief executive of the brownfield redevelopment specialist, said: "This has been an exceptional year for St Modwen and we have achieved significant progress across all of our major projects as well as increasing our active pipeline of commercial development opportunities to over 3m sq ft of space.

"The residential part of the business continues to perform well with good sales rates achieved throughout the year and we anticipate a sustained performance into 2015.

"Across the UK, we continued to grow the business, capitalising on the upturn in the regional property market and we look forward to continuing this level of success throughout the coming year."

Profits from St Modwen's properties rose 45 per cent to £57.7 million and it now has a 5,900 acre land bank, worth around £1.3 billion, ready to build on. That includes 28,790 housing plots as demand soars.

It has built thousands of homes with its joint venture partner Persimmon – including the Akron estate on the Goodyear site in Wolverhampton, and is now building up its own housebuilding business St Modwen Homes.

St Modwen now has developments under way nationwide, from huge depots for delivery giant DPD in Liverpool to the new Bay Campus for Swansea University in South Wales.

While it sold its interest in the redeveloped Hednesford town centre for £7m last year, it is set to build up to 700 homes on 142 acres at nearby Pye Green – a project expected to create around 1,000 jobs.

Stephen Prosser, Midlands regional director for St Modwen, added: "Reflecting the growth in the regional commercial property market and the upturn in the economy, our Midlands pipeline for commercial development projects is growing fast and now represents around 1.5m sq ft of space, exemplifying the strength of the Midlands' marketplace.

"Our redevelopment of Longbridge is one of the largest regeneration projects outside of London. Here, we are making excellent progress in transforming this 468-acre former industrial site into a thriving mixed-use community. To date, we've invested over £300m into this important scheme, created over 3,700 jobs and welcomed over 50 new businesses to this area of Birmingham. Current development work includes the delivery of phase 2 of the Town Centre which is anchored by a 150,000 sq ft Marks & Spencer store - one of the largest in the UK."