Scots housebuilder Springfield plans IPO

Scottish housebuilder Springfield Properties announced its intention to seek admission of its ordinary shares to trading on London’s secondary AIM market.

Elgin-based Springfield hopes to raise up to £25 million in the IPO which, if fully subscribed, would value the firm at between £80 million and £90 million.

Springfield said that over the past four years its has secured land or entered into other arrangements relating to the development of five villages with an estimated gross development value (GDV) of £1.5 billion.

In May 2016, Springfield said its plans for a £1 billion, 3,000-home community near the A9 just north of Perth have been approved by Perth and Kinross Council.

“The development of these villages is expected to involve significant net cash-outflows in relation to land purchases, remediation works and infrastructure of between £8 million to £12 million per site,” said Springfield.

“The net proceeds of the placing, together with the company’s debt facilities and internally generated cash, will be used to realise the value of the sites already secured by the group through the development of the five villages.”

Since 1988 Springfield has developed more than 4,000 homes and now operates through two divisions — Private Housing and Affordable.

Including its unallocated land bank, the group has a total land bank of over 12,000 plots with a GDV of more than £2 billion.

Springfield currently operates on 29 active sites and has 33 planned future sites in its land bank.

Springfield executive chairman Sandy Adam said: “Throughout our history, Springfield’s strategies have achieved our aim of steady growth, doubling the company in size every five years.

“Our turnover exceeded £100 million for the first time this year and now we employ around 500 people.

“This IPO is the next step in our growth.

“Raising these funds is part of our strategy to secure ongoing growth at the same rate.

“The new funding will enable us to invest in the infrastructure of five new villages in Scotland, and in existing sites, accelerating the delivery of new homes, private and affordable, in new communities.

“Scotland needs more homes countrywide and Springfield is poised to play a significant part in delivering these homes for private individuals and across all tenures in the affordable and social housing sector.”