A SCOTTISH company hoping to hoping to raise £25 million on the London Stock Exchange has made a commitment to building greater numbers of affordable homes.
In an exclusive interview, Springfield Properties executive chairman Sandy Adam also told The National of the “awesome responsibility” of building five new villages in Scotland.
The Moray-based housebuilder yesterday announced plans to float on the London Stock Exchange in a move which, if fully subscribed, would value the business at up to £90 million. The family-owned company, which was established in 1956, is seeking to raise up to £25m from investors to fund its continuing expansion. The initial public offering (IPO) is expected to value Springfield between £80m and £90m.
The company plans to plough the bulk of the capital raised into the development of five villages around Scotland where, as well as constructing thousands of homes, Springfield would put the infrastructure for key community facilities in place.
However, the firm, which becomes only the second Scottish business to float this year, also aims to ramp up its presence in the affordable housing sector. Springfield has grown substantially in the last five years, having increased its workforce from 125 to around 500 and turned over £110m in its most recent financial year. It is understood the float will result in up to 31 per cent of the company’s equity being taken up by outside investors.
Springfield has highlighted the opportunity to expand in the affordable housing market, where the Scottish Government has targeted building up to 50,000 homes to ease the country’s housing shortage, with funding in place.
“We’ve set our minds to increasing this side of business substantially,” said Adam. “Last year we built 93 affordable houses, this year we are building 174 and next year 300, so it’s quite an increase.
“We see that continuing to increase as it is an important part of our business. As well as that we have five new villages to create here in Scotland.
“It is an awesome responsibility to be given the job of creating a new village and to be able to create five is mind-blowing.”
Adam said that since the company would be building infrastructure such as doctors’ surgeries, schools, nurseries and shops they had taken the decision to raise the necessary funds by going on to the London Stock Exchange.
“We are creating a whole new environment for people to live in which is a huge responsibility to take on,” he said. “We are determined to plan it right and build high-quality housing and infrastructure.
“It’s quite an undertaking as putting in infrastructure costs a substantial amount of money before we even sell our first house.
“That’s why we have gone to the stock market to float on the stock exchange. Sadly there is not a Scottish one otherwise we would have floated on that.”
The new villages will provide 10,000 new homes at sites near Dundee, Stirling, Perth, Elgin and Edinburgh.
Springfield was founded by Sandy Adam’s grandfather, Wilfred Adam, in 1956 with the former taking over in the late 1980s.
Since 1988 the group has developed more than 4000 homes and now operates through two divisions: private housing and affordable.
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