41061 Unite AR22 HI-RES WEB-READY - Flipbook - Page 13
STRATEGIC REPORT
GOVERNANCE
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
OTHER INFORMATION
COMMUNITIES
SUPPLIERS
INVESTORS
Key issues
Key issues
Key issues
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Trust and transparency
Land use
Local investment and job creation
Quality
Performance and efficiency
Risk management
Financial performance
Strategic direction
Sustainability and risk management
How we engaged
How we engaged
How we engaged
Our operational teams are
active in their communities
through our Company-wide
volunteering programme.
The business embarked on a
procurement programme in 2022
which redesigned and centralised
our procurement approach with
an initial focus on estates, facilities
management, and technology.
We engaged regularly with investors
around our financial results as well
as through ad-hoc events, such as
property tours, investor conferences
and meetings.
We relaunched our Positive Impact
programme in 2022, which includes
awards for projects undertaken
by employees aimed at delivering
measurable benefits in their
local communities.
We also engage actively with local
stakeholders for our development
projects to ensure the design
of our buildings, public spaces
and community facilities meet
their needs.
Value creation in 2022
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Employment for 1,400 people
in our local communities
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Invested £13 million in initiatives to
reduce our environmental impact
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124 hours of employee
volunteering in the year
Priorities for 2023
We aim to increase community
engagement through our Positive
Impact programme, via new
initiatives delivered by local teams
in our properties.
In addition, we will continue to
engage with local authorities
and local communities around
new development activity, such
as our proposed development
in Paddington, to explain how
the community benefits from
creating new, high-quality student
accommodation.
We continued to ensure our buildings
meet existing and emerging safety
regulations, including planned work
for the remediation of cladding,
where required.
Value creation in 2022
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Spent £275 million with
suppliers across development
activity, cladding remediation
and refurbishments
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Higher quality service from
suppliers, supporting improved
NPS scores from customers
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Reduced risk through an enhanced
supplier vetting process
Priorities for 2023
We will expand our new procurement
approach across the wider business
and progress the development
of our new technology platform
with partners.
We also plan to publish our
Sustainable Construction Framework
during the year, which will inform the
way in which we procure net zero
developments in the future.
Key themes for engagement during
the year were our response to higher
inflation and increased interest
rates. These discussions informed
our decision to reduce investment
activity and delay some parts of our
development pipeline.
We also sought feedback from
investors ahead of our pilot buildto-rent (BTR) investment. Feedback
was supportive on testing our
capabilities in the BTR sector and we
subsequently completed our debut
BTR acquisition in October 2022.
Value creation in 2022
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Delivered 99% occupancy and
rental growth of 3.5%
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48% growth in adjusted EPS
Total accounting return of 8.1%
Full year dividend per share
of 32.7p
Priorities for 2023
Delivering growth in EPS, through
rental growth and resilience in
operating margins, while ensuring
a robust capital structure.
We aim to achieve this through
a strong sales performance for
2023/24, ongoing cost discipline and
management of interest rate risk.
See our s172 statement on page 66
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