Wheatley Group, Scotland’s biggest social landlord, said on Wednesday it has retained its A+ rating with a stable outlook with S&P Global Ratings.
However, S&P Global said it has reassessed the likelihood of government support for Wheatley to “moderately high” from “high” because of “increased visibility on the government’s relationship with the social housing sector.”
Wheatley said: “Following the Scottish Government receiving its first credit rating of AA with a stable outlook in November 2025, S&P Global has undertaken a review of Wheatley Housing Group Limited’s rating, reflecting its position as a government-related entity.
“S&P Global has reassessed Wheatley’s expected government support from high to moderately high, with Wheatley’s A+ credit rating and stable outlook remaining unchanged, keeping it among the top-rated social housing providers in the UK.
“S&P Global emphasised that Wheatley’s management team demonstrated sound fiscal discipline by supporting an appropriate level of investment spending, managing costs effectively, and adjusting the development programme based on available grant funding.”
Wheatley Group CEO Steven Henderson said: “We are pleased that S&P Global has acknowledged our strong relationship with the Scottish Government and recognised our ongoing financial discipline by maintaining our A+ rating and stable outlook.”
S&P Global said: “S&P Global Ratings today affirmed its ‘A+’ long-term issuer credit ratings on Scotland-based Wheatley Housing Group Ltd. (Wheatley) and core group entity Wheatley Homes Glasgow. The outlooks are stable.
“We also affirmed our ‘A+’ issue rating on the £300 million bond issued by Wheatley Group Capital PLC, which we consider a core subsidiary of the group.
“In addition, we affirmed our ‘A’ long-term issuer credit rating on Lowther Homes, Wheatley’s commercial arm that provides mid-market homes and property management services. The rating on Lowther is one notch lower than that on Wheatley, reflecting Lowther’s status as a highly strategic entity within the group. The outlook is also stable.
“The stable outlook reflects our expectation that Wheatley’s management will prudently execute its business plan while keeping enough financial headroom to mitigate cost and investment pressures.
“We could lower the rating if we see a material weakening of the group’s credit metrics. This could happen if management is unable to control costs, such that they significantly surpass our current projections, or if debt-funded spending on development increases materially beyond our projections, which would also weaken liquidity.
“We could raise the rating on Wheatley if cost-control efforts or additional income from rents or grants secured for investments in existing housing stock result in EBITDA margins improving materially beyond our current projections, helping to strengthen the group’s debt metrics, all else remaining equal.
“We could also raise the rating if we think Wheatley’s role for, and link with, the Scottish government have strengthened, implying a higher likelihood of extraordinary support.
“We expect Wheatley will continue to balance its large investment program with appropriate rental increases, supported by strong demand for its properties …
“This should contribute to a moderate strengthening of the group’s financial performance by fiscal 2028, though we anticipate Wheatley will continue to use additional financial capacity to drive investment projects across its housing portfolio.
“The size of Wheatley’s development program continues to depend on the amount of grants available, with new build capital expenditure funded via a mix of debt and grant funding.
“We therefore anticipate the effects of debt-funded development will be contained, with Wheatley’s debt metrics strengthening by fiscal ending March 31, 2028. We continue to assess the group’s liquidity position as very strong …
“We believe there is a moderately high likelihood that Wheatley would receive timely extraordinary government support in case of financial distress.
“This has a neutral impact on our rating on Wheatley. We have reassessed the likelihood of support, to moderately high from high, following our assignment of a ‘AA’ rating to the Scottish Government.
“This reflects increased clarity on the approach the Scottish government could take to intervene in times of distress, aligning the assignment with that of Wheatley’s rated U.K. peers.
“We assess Wheatley’s role to the government as important, given the acute demand for housing in Scotland and Wheatley’s function as a provider and developer of social housing.
“We further consider that Wheatley has a strong link with the Scottish government, given the level of engagement with Scotland’s housing regulator.”