the times | Tuesday September 15 2020 1GM 41
Business
to encourage businesses to offer extra support for their workers, an insurer says
A housebuilder that builds affordable
homes for key workers said that it
would build a record number in the
next financial year after a recovery in
demand.
MJ Gleeson has reinstated its target
of building 2,000 homes per year and
anticipates achieving that level in the 12
months to June 2022.
James Thomson, 53, its chief execu-
tive, said that “demand is back at pre-
Covid levels”.
The builder, which mainly works in
northern England and the Midlands,
We’ll build more homes for key workers, promises developer
Louisa Clarence-Smith
said that its forward order book at the
end of June comprised 1,033 homes
valued at £145.3 million, a 52 per cent
increase on the previous year.
Key workers account for two thirds of
its customers. Nurses and care workers
make up 11 per cent of purchasers and
teachers account for 6 per cent.
MJ Gleeson’s average selling price in
the north of England is £130,900,
compared with £205,500 for other
housebuilders. A typical two-bedroom
MJ Gleeson home can be bought for
£59 per week.
More than 80 per cent of its cus-
tomers are first-time buyers with an
sold fell by almost 30 per cent to 1,072
and land sales were paused. Despite re-
covery in demand, reservations for new
homes are only at 60 per cent of pre-
Covid-19 levels.
MJ Gleeson raised £16 million by
issuing new shares in April to ensure
that it could take advantage of any eco-
nomic recovery.
The company said that it would not
pay a final dividend and that payouts
would resume as soon as it was “pru-
dent to do so”. It had £16.8 million of net
cash at the end of June, down from
£30.3 million a year earlier. Its shares
fell 14p, or 2.3 per cent, to 600p.average age of 29. The housebuilder is
not concerned about mortgage lenders
becoming more cautious because most
of its buyers use the government’s Help
to Buy scheme to acquire their homes.
Help to Buy offers buyers with a 5 per
cent deposit an interest-free loan for
five years of up to 20 per cent of the
price, or 40 per cent in London. It is due
to run until April 2023, with price caps
from next April that MJ Gleeson said
would have a minimal impact on sales.
The positive outlook comes despite
annual pre-tax profit falling by 86.4 per
cent to £5.6 million as the lockdown dis-
rupted activity. The number of homesMJ Gleeson counts key workers such as
nurses and teachers among its clientelewithout having to pay for expensive
products,” Ms Fisk said. It also creates a
cohesive workforce. “Even if I’m a con-
tingency worker, I have access to that.
We don’t exclude them.”
There is still a big gulf between the
benefits packages that companies offer
to high earners and what they are
prepared to offer, or can afford, for
those at the other end of the spectrum,
but corporate human resources depart-
ments are thinking more about differ-
ent types of employees and how to
reward them.
Katherine Savage, a partner at EY,
said: “Companies are trying to balance
cost, wellness and skills.” The pandemic
has added extra factors to consider,Abcam’s growth plan
survives Covid crisis
though. “Before Covid, HR teams were
becoming more sophisticated about
what types of employees they needed,
whether it was permanent, fixed-term
or gig,” she said. “Those require differ-
ent remuneration structures. Covid
shines an interesting light on health,
wellness and safety.”
The reality is that the pressure on
costs will increase as the downturn
bites, prompting businesses to reassess
benefits packages.
Alastair Woods, a partner in PWC’s
HR consulting practice, said: “More
clients are asking if there are things
they can drop, such as season-ticket
loans or gym membership, as they are
less relevant.”
Companies know that for lower-paid
staff, wages are the most important
thing, but thought is also being given to
how to be more creative about employ-
ee benefits and the focus on wellness,
for example by offering virtual GP
services, which are relatively inexpen-
sive and lead to productivity gains, Mr
Woods said.
The role of insurers themselves is
also prompting companies to rethink
benefits; some have not paid out on life
insurance or critical illness policies that
employers offered to staff.
Karen Gaynor, global head of
benefits at Siemens, whose workforce
ranges from factory workers to engi-
neers, said: “We are definitely looking
at our rewards package and we have got
to be challenging the insurance
market.”
Then there is the perspective of key
workers themselves. Ms Fisk said that
Sunrise had surveyed staff at the peak
of the pandemic in June and had found
that people wanted help to stay emo-
tionally as well as physically well. In the
future, such benefits may be judged just
as important as traditional perks.Dominic Walsh
A British biotechnology company is to
press ahead with its five-year growth
plan, despite the Covid-19 pandemic,
and has confirmed that it is scrapping
its final dividend.
Abcam impressed analysts yesterday
by achieving flat full-year revenues of
£260 million. However, second-half
sales fell by 9.9 per cent amid a decline
in demand as research laboratories
worldwide shut down temporarily or
reduced their activity.
On an adjusted basis, pre-tax profitsalmost halved to £42.4 million, slightly
below City forecasts, as the company
was hit by the pandemic. Including
one-off costs, profits plunged by 85 per
cent to £8.4 million. Costs included
share-based payments to employees
and integration and reorganisation
costs.
The group generated strong cash-
flows, which, together with a £110 mil-
lion equity placing in April and an un-
drawn credit facility of £93 million, pro-
vided Abcam with the necessary
financing to support its organic growth
plans. During the year it spent £120 mil-lion on acquisitions, including the
proteomics and immunology busi-
nesses of Expedeon in January for
£104.2 million.
The Aim-quoted company, which is
based in Cambridge, supplies products
and tools to two thirds of the world’s
scientific researchers, having grown
from a group supplying a “handful of
antibodies in an ice-bucket” to local
scientists. Dubbed the “Amazon of anti-
bodies”, it was founded in 1988 by
Jonathan Milner, a University of Cam-
bridge scientist, who is the second
biggest shareholder with an 8.7 per cent
stake and is its deputy chairman.
After a review of the business at the
end of last year, Abcam outlined plans
to double its revenues to between
£450 million and £500 million by 2024.
Although it continues to withhold
short-term guidance, Alan Hirzel, chief
executive, reiterated yesterday that its
five-year goals, which involve moving
into adjacent markets and opening up
Chinese and American opportunities,
were unaffected by the pandemic.
Mr Hirzel, 53, who has doubled the
size of the business over the past five
years, said that he was confident in its
strategy. “We have continued to invest
heavily in future growth as we execute
our strategy to again double the size of
the business,” he said.
Shares of Abcam, which is pursuing a
secondary listing on Nasdaq in addition
to its Aim listing, added 8p, or 0.6 per
cent, to £13.82.£260m
Abcam’s full-year revenues
AbcamMONTY RAKUSEN/GETTY IMAGES