Keepmoat Annual Report 2020

CHIEF EXECUTIVE

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER’S STRATEGIC REPORT Chief Executive Officer’s strategic update Reflecting on the last financial year, I want to start by saying how proud I am of what we have achieved in successfully steering the business through the Coronavirus crisis. The last financial year has been one where we have faced unprecedented challenges with the impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic continuing to affect all aspects of our daily lives. However, I am delighted to report that on the back of a very positive start to the year, whilst our financial and operational results were significantly impacted by the period of shutdown and ongoing economic uncertainty caused by COVID-19, our business has demonstrated the resilience of the multi tenure partnership model, and we are in a strong position moving forwards and well set up to deliver our future growth plans. We made a good start to the year with positive postelection sentiment and demand for new homes reflected in excellent sales figures and the business trading in line with our expectations for the period to March, before the onset of the pandemic. Demand for new homes has remained strong throughout as one of the effects of the Pandemic has been to make people place greater value on owning their own homes with flexible space for living, working, exercising and relaxing. Our predominantly First Time Buyer audience and average selling price of £165,000 has further supported our continued strong performance. In fact, our forward order book and pipeline in all our regions remain strong across all tenures, this forward visibility positions us well for investment and growth in the future. When the UK entered its first national lockdown, as a responsible home builder, we prioritised the safety of our people, our customers and the communities we work with and took the decision to temporarily cease operations. All our developments were closed in a safe and secure manner at the start of April 2020, with surplus PPE donated to NHS Trusts and Charities to support medical staff and key workers. During the shutdown period, the business supported customers who were ready to complete, as lockdown restrictions came into force, to ensure that they were able to safely move into their new homes. Sales offices were reopened with the creation of a bespoke online appointment booking system to allow customers to visit our sales centres and show homes across the UK safely, in line with Government and Public Health guidelines. In the previous financial year, we had already invested in digital technologies to re-engineer the customer journey to make the process of buying a new home even easier and more closely aligned to the expectations of our young customer demographic. This investment has paid dividends, with the reserve online tool enabling the business to continue to sell homes whilst sales offices were closed during lockdown. Further enhancements including the appointment booking system and an online payment tool to enable all payments to be made via the website, enabled sales offices to reopen safely, operating on an appointment only basis and minimising unnecessary contacts. The bookings tool has provided additional benefits to the business with improved visibility on footfall to sites, enabling staffing levels to be optimised accordingly. Looking ahead and building on the success of the Reserve Online tool, phase two is now in development to include additional features such as ID checks, anti-money laundering checks and electronic document signing. Throughout the first national lockdown interest and demand for new homes remained strong, with our sales teams working remotely and many customers choosing to reserve their new homes online. As lockdown restrictions began to be eased in May, the business implemented a phased reopening programme. 8 KEEPMOAT.COM

STRATEGIC REPORT “I believe that the way we have successfully steered the business through this crisis is testament to the strength of our extremely competent management team, with the right people now in the right roles to drive the business forward.” ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020 9