Glenveagh in €106m land bank deals

HOUSEBUILDER Glenveagh Properties is set to spend a total of €106m to acquire lands with the potential to deliver over 2,235 new homes in Dublin and the greater Dublin area.

Announcing its first set of results since listing on the stock market five months ago, Glenveagh said yesterday it had entered into contracts for two portfolios capable of accommodating 1,435 and 800 units.

In the first instance, the com- pany has agreed to pay €90m (including fees and stamp duty) for four sites: two in Donabate, Co Dublin, one at Dunboyne, Co Meath; and one at Stamullen, Co Meath. The second transaction, for €16m, will see Glenveagh Living secure the residential development rights to lands adjoining the Square shopping centre in Tallaght and a site to the rear of Gateway Retail Park in Galway.

Glenveagh Homes will also acquire a 9.8-acre site to the rear of Bray Retail Park in Bray, Co Wicklow.

All told, Glenveagh has spent nearly €300m on acquisitions since its IPO last October, doubling its land bank in the process to over 7,340 units.

Co-founder and CEO Justin Bickle said yesterday that the company had “smartly” invested in very attractive multi-year land sites, and would start construction on 700 new homes in its first full year of operations. A separate pipeline of over 1,200 residential units is being developed by the company’s ‘Glenveagh Living’ division to cater for the rental market.

Glenveagh’s results, which cover the five-month period from its incorporation last August to the end of December, show it generated €1.4m in revenues, and a gross profit of €524,000. It recorded a pre-exceptional loss of €3.3m last year, and booked a €47.5m non-cash exceptional cost in relation to an expense for founder shares issued at the time of the IPO.

Mr Bickle said that the conditions in the Irish housing market were among the most attractive he had seen globally in his career to date.