Rotherham-headquartered property firm, Harworth Group, says its Industrial & Logistics (I&L) arm continues to “outperform”, contrasting with ongoing difficult conditions in the residential property market.
In a trading update for FY 2025, the group says its I&L operation currently has land with a capacity to deliver 3.7 million sq ft of space.
Its pipeline of potential deals includes 1.2 million sq ft of strong interest across a range of transactions.
Harworth adds that its consented pipeline of 8.5 million sq ft is well positioned to deliver Grade A product to the market and its investment portfolio.
Lynda Shillaw, chief executive, said: “The business delivered sustained operational progress in 2025. Our management actions have culminated in attractive levels of total property return across our I&L land portfolio, reinforcing our strategy to pivot the I&L portfolio weighting to 85 per cent.
“We have crystallised £343m of capital since the end of 2020 from Residential land sales and reduced the volume of consented Residential plots by 67 per cent over the same time to improve capital efficiency.
“The acceleration of plot sales, from a base of 873 at the end of 2020, underpins our future cashflows to reinvest into primarily higher-returning I&L opportunities, to drive our future growth and long-term returns.
“The well-reported challenges across the residential market persist, with a lack of demand side stimulus and ongoing cost and regulatory pressures. Despite this, we delivered sales volumes in-line with target levels, albeit transactions completed on terms reflecting these market headwinds.”
Harworth says its I&L land pipeline now comprises its largest ever volume of development-ready land, and is strategically positioned to meet growing demand being generated from the industrial, advanced manufacturing, defence, energy, and data centre sectors.
The group’s land bank now stands at 35 million sq ft of I&L, of which 75 per cent is consented or in the planning system (Dec 2024: 33.6 millon sq ft; 63 per cent) and 29,386 Residential plots of which 46 per cent are consented or in the planning system (Dec 2024: 31,264; 46 per cent).