Annual Report
and Accounts 2024
Renting
great
homes
Strategic report
Our year in review 02
Chair’s statement 04
Chief Executive’s statement 05
Great renting 09
The shape and strength of ourbusiness 18
Our market 24
Our business model 26
Key performance indicators ('KPIs') 28
Non-financial and ESG KPIs 30
Financial review 31
ESG introduction 37
Great people 39
Great assets 44
Great environment
46
Task force on Climate-related Financial
Disclosures
48
Stakeholder engagement - section 172
reporting
55
Risk management 56
Principal risks and uncertainties 58
Viability statement 64
Governance
Chair's introduction togovernance 66
Leadership and purpose 68
Division of responsibility 78
Composition, succession andevaluation 80
Responsible business 84
Audit, risk and internal controls 86
Remuneration 91
Statement of Director's responsibilities 110
Directors’ report 110
Financial statements
Independent auditor’s report 116
Consolidated income statement 123
Consolidated statement
ofcomprehensiveincome
124
Consolidated statement
of financial position
125
Consolidated statement
of changes in equity
126
Consolidated statement
of cash flows
127
Notes to the financial statements 128
Parent company statement
offinancial position
165
Parent company statement
ofchangesinequity
165
Notes to the parent company
financial statements
166
EPRA performance measures
(unaudited)
171
Five-year record (unaudited) 175
Other information
Alternative performance measures 176
Shareholders’ information 177
Glossary of terms 178
Advisers 179
p05
Chief Executive’s
statement
p31
Chief Financial Officer’sreview
p04
Chair’s statement
Forward-looking statements
This Report may contain forward-looking
statements with respect to certain plans
and current goals and expectations relating
to the future financial condition, business
performance and results of Grainger plc.
Further information about forward-looking
statements can be found in the Shareholders'
Information section on page 177.
We are changing the way people think
about renting. We are creating great
rental homes that meet the needs
of renters.
As one of the UK’s largest professional
landlords we are providing homes to
help alleviate the UK’s housing shortage
and delivering homes that are great
value, in great locations, whilst providing
a great customer service and creating
great communities.
Read more about our
great rental offer.
p09
Millwrights Place, Bristol
Financial statementsGovernance
Strategic report
Grainger plc
Annual Report and Accounts 2024
1
Our newest build-to-rent schemes
We have delivered four exciting new schemes this year and continued
to develop our cluster strategy in key UK cities.
The Copper Works, Cardiff
Millwrights Place, Bristol
Our year in review
A great performance
Consistently delivering
outperformance and growth
Grainger delivered another great performance across the
business this year. With the delivery of four new schemes and
the purchase of the stabilised asset, The Astley in Manchester,
we have added 1,236 new homes to our portfolio and continue
to see our pipeline developing well.
The outlook for Grainger is excellent. Our market leadership
in the growing build-to-rent sector with the UK's largest
portfolio, largest pipeline and best-in-class operating platform,
is delivering compounding growth for Shareholders, whilst
providing a brilliant service and rental experience
to our customers.
Highlights
Total operational portfolio size
11,069
Total portfolio value
£3.4bn
New homes added
1,236
Schemes added
5
Windlass Apartments Phase 2,
North London
The Astley, Manchester (acquired)The Silver Yard, Birmingham
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Key facts
A platform that consistently delivers excellent
operational performance.
Highlights
Net rental income
The successful lease up of new launches, supported by our
high-quality product and service offering has delivered
double digit growth in net rental income.
Like-for-like rental growth
(PRS)
Great performance driven by our best-in-class operational
platform and high demand for our product.
+6.3%
+14%
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
2
4
6
8
10
0
PRS rental growth
(%)
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
70
80
90
100
110
120
0
Net rental income
(£m)
Occupancy
97.4%
Customer retention
63%
Average length of stay (PRS)
31 months
Rent paid on time
99%
Customer satisfaction (NPS)
+48
Energy Efficient Properties
EPC A-C (PRS)
94%
Millwrights Place, Bristol
The Silver Yard, Birmingham
Financial statementsGovernance
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Annual Report and Accounts 2024
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Chair’s statement
“ Grainger has delivered another
year of strong performance."
Dear Shareholders,
I am pleased to say that Grainger
has delivered another year of strong
performance with a significant step
up in net rental income, further
dividend growth and excellent
customer satisfaction scores, despite
a challenging external environment.
In the last 12 months Grainger has
successfully delivered over 1,200 new
homes in Cardiff, Birmingham, Bristol and
London. The strategy to grow the business
remains a priority and is supported by a
substantial pipeline of schemes, a robust
operating platform and great people
across the whole organisation.
Delivering for customers remains a key area
for the Board and great progress has been
made through the delivery of our Customer
Experience Programme which has, once
again, resulted in further improvements in
customer satisfaction levels and therefore
customer advocacy. This is key to driving
both customer retention levels and new
customer enquiries. There continues to
be a focus on how the use of data and AI
will enable us to continue to make strides
in delivering for our customers as well as
improving the efficiency of everything we do.
The Board was pleased to see the
Company’s continued success of its
ESG strategy and progress toward its ESG
commitments, including further reducing
its carbon emissions on an intensity basis.
It was also good to hear the positive
comments from colleagues in Grainger’s
new energy-efficient London office.
As the market leader, we continue to
take the initiative on health and safety
matters. We know that with over 25,000
residents staying in our properties every
night, we must go above and beyond
to keep them safe.
Our commitment to this is evidenced
through our Live.Safe programme, with
the results of our annual health and safety
survey showing our Live.Safe culture is
firmly embedded across the business and
ahead of our peer group. In light of the
Grenfell report this year, it is reassuring
that a key focus for Grainger has been
fire safety, where the Company is taking
measures to be at the forefront
of building safety.
One of the highlights of the year was the
Board’s visit to two of Grainger’s newest
communities in Nottingham and Derby,
meeting colleagues and residents. It is
always an uplifting experience hearing
the enthusiasm of colleagues who have
delivered these schemes as well as those
on site delivering great service to our
customers every day.
The Board closely reviewed and discussed
people matters over the year including
wellbeing, reward and recognition,
diversity and inclusion and I am pleased to
report some significant achievements in
this area too. This year Grainger achieved
the UK’s leading recognition for equality,
diversity and inclusion, the National
Equality Standard. Grainger was also
recognised as a Top 100 Employer by Best
Companies as a result of the Company’s
bi-annual employee engagement survey.
Finally, Grainger ranked highly in the FTSE
Women Leaders review at 19th position
out of the FTSE 250.
During the year, Grainger’s Company
Secretary, Adam McGhin, left the business
after 13 years and I would like to thank
him for his important contribution to the
business and the support he provided to
the Board over that time. I would also like
to welcome our new Company Secretary
and General Counsel, Sapna FitzGerald, to
Grainger. The Board and I look forward to
working closely with her.
The past year saw significant political
change take place in the UK. The Board
regularly reviewed Grainger’s engagement
with UK Government ministers and
officials and the three main political
parties, ensuring that Grainger’s
perspective and expertise helps inform
policy making. We were pleased that the
new Labour Government has publicly
rejected the introduction of rent controls,
recognising that it would harm housing
supply and investment.
Reflecting the Company’s strong
performance and our commitment to
deliver a progressive dividend, the Board
is pleased to propose a final dividend per
share of 5.01p, in line with our policy to
distribute the equivalent of 50% of net
rental income. This will result in a total
dividend of 7.55p per share, an increase
of 14% from last year.
Grainger is well positioned to continue
to deliver significant earnings growth for
years to come as it completes the existing
schemes in its pipeline and new schemes
it secures. One of the key areas of focus
for the Board continues to be how quickly
the Company can grow the pipeline into
the future given the serious mismatch that
exists in this country between the demand
for homes and current supply. Given the
size of the opportunity the Board remains
confident that the Company can deliver
further substantial value for Shareholders
and customers alike going forward.
Mark Clare
Chair
20 November 2024
Positioned
o deliver
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Annual Report and Accounts 2024
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Chief Executive’s statement
It is my pleasure to report another
year of continuing accelerated growth
for your Company and a very strong
growth outlook.
Building on last year’s record delivery
of new homes, we have had another year
of strong delivery, adding 1,236 new
homes to our expanding portfolio.
We added four new communities to our
existing clusters in Birmingham, Bristol,
London, and Manchester and building on
our national footprint of carefully selected
locations, we are now building meaningful
scale in these cities.
One of these was the acquisition
of an existing BTR asset, The Astley,
demonstrating the potential of stabilised
acquisitions as a route to growth.
We also opened our first scheme
in Wales in Cardiff.
These new homes together with like-for-
like rental growth of 6.3% have meant we
have once again delivered double digit
income growth at 14%, ahead of last year’s
12% growth. For our Shareholders this
also means a 14% growth in our dividend.
Our portfolio returned to valuation
growth in the second half with a 1.1%
increase which offset the decline in the
first half related to the one-off impact
of tax changes (the removal of multiple
dwellings relief, MDR). Over the whole year
valuation declined by 0.8% (FY23: (2.4)%)
including this one off impact; excluding
MDR underlying valuations increased
0.8% during the year.
Over the past two years, due to rising
interest rates, we’ve experienced yield
expansion yet our portfolio value’s
decline was successfully largely offset
by rental growth due to the resilience
of our assets and the strength
of our operating platform.
“ We have a substantial opportunity
to accelerate growth.”
Excellent
Perfrmance
Delivering homes
The Silver Yard —
Birmingham
In June 2024 we launched
our second scheme
in Birmingham.
Homes
375
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Chief Executive’s statement continued
Our proactive asset recycling programme
drives continued growth, which also
preserves the strength of our balance
sheet. This year we disposed of a recent
record number of non-core assets
generating £274m of gross revenue from
these lower yielding assets. We are then
reinvesting this capital into higher-yielding,
modern, purpose-built, energy efficient,
attractive homes. This, together with our
high level of asset recycling last year is
leading to the continued high quality and
strong potential of our portfolio.
The investment and focus we have placed
on creating the UK’s leading build-to-rent
(‘BTR’) operating platform means that we
can leverage our planned growth using
our central platform and deliver significant
margin gains, with our EBITDA margin set
to grow by six percentage points to over
60% by FY29, a compounding effect on
our earnings growth.
The strategic transformation we have
undergone since setting out our strategy
in 2016 is enabling us to convert to a REIT
in October 2025, made possible by the
fact that the business will be majority
BTR homes, focused on investment and
growing net rental income and no longer
reliant on trading profits. Our BTR/PRS
portfolio now represents 83% of our
operational portfolio given the success of
both our pipeline delivery and recycling of
our regulated tenancy portfolio.
High customer satisfaction and
healthy customer affordability
We are committed to delivering great
homes and a great service to our
customers. Satisfied customers deliver the
most robust returns for our Shareholders.
Our investment in customer experience,
including deeper customer insight, our
CONNECT technology platform and our
Company-wide customer service training
programme, has led to year-on-year
improvements in customer metrics.
Our key metric for customer satisfaction,
the Net Promoter Score (NPS), has
increased even further this year following
last year’s exceptional score, and is now
+48, significantly ahead of industry peers
and many other industry market leaders.
Customer retention is high at 63%.
On average, our customers stay with
Grainger for nearly three years.
In addition to our customers telling us that
they are happy renting with Grainger, we
closely monitor the financial health of our
customers and their rental affordability.
It is generally accepted that housing
costs should be no more than a third of a
household’s gross income.
I am pleased to report that Grainger’s
customer affordability remains healthy
at 28%.
Operational excellence
We have successfully been leasing our four
new schemes well ahead of underwriting,
which typically assumes 12-18 months to
fully lease up a new building.
In Cardiff, at the Coppers Works (307
homes), in Bristol at Millwrights Place
(231 homes), in Birmingham at The Silver
Yard (375 homes), and in London, our
second phase of Windlass Apartments (65
homes), our newly completed buildings
are all leasing exceptionally well, ahead
of underwriting.
We continue to reap the benefits of scale
as we grow. Operating expenses continue
to be improved with our ‘gross to net’
leakage down from 25.5% to 25%, a 75%
gross rental margin.
This margin is after refresh and
refurbishment costs which are included in
the 25%.
In addition, with scale we have created
efficiencies in our procurement and
supply chain. Good examples of this
were our consolidation of our repairs and
maintenance supplier in the South of
England and our consolidation of national
furniture suppliers this year, both enabling
us to drive savings and, importantly,
further enhance customer experience.
Our fully integrated and fully digitised
customer journey, combined with our
CONNECT technology platform, enables
Our customers
Affordability
ratio
28%
of household income paid on rent
on average in a Grainger home.
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us to benefit from the significant data
and insight we have at our fingertips, a
benefit of operating all our own properties
directly. CONNECT, along with our data,
enables us to readily utilise AI and analytics
across the business, such as lettings,
customer experience, building operations,
asset management, development and our
core corporate functions too.
We also launched a new website
improving our leasing journey for those
wishing to rent with Grainger.
Leading the way on sustainability
and responsibility
We continue to demonstrate
our leadership in sustainability
and responsibility.
94% of our properties are compliant
with future energy efficiency standards
expected to come into force in 2030
(BTR/PRS portfolio, EPC ratings A-C).
We continue to make good progress
against our target to be net zero carbon
for our operations by 2030 with our
Scope 1 & 2 emissions reducing again
year on year by 8%.
Our focus to reduce Scope 3 emissions,
particularly our customer emissions,
supported by our consumer campaign,
Living a Greener Life, continues to bear
fruit, with operational Scope 1-3 emissions
per m
2
reducing by 9% year on year on
the PRS portfolio.
Through targeted initiatives, we have
successfully established a robust baseline
of customer emissions data, which has
enabled us to apply for our established
carbon targets to be recognised as
science-based targets, an important step
on our net zero carbon pathway.
Safety remains a core focus for Grainger.
All housing businesses have a responsibility
to keep their residents safe.
Most of our BTR properties were built post
Grenfell. This year, with the publication
of the report on Grenfell, we have further
invested in keeping safety at the front
of all Grainger employees’ minds, a
commitment that runs from the Board
all the way through the organisation.
Our Live.Safe programme continues
to successfully engender a safety-first
culture. With the enactment of the
Building Safety Act, we have been at
the forefront of the industry, getting
ahead of new building safety regulations
and going beyond the new minimum
safety standards.
Political and regulatory landscape
During the year we have worked with
both Governments on their proposals
for reforming the rental housing market,
which have been broadly similar.
The UK now has a Labour Government
with a notable majority. The Labour
manifesto focused on driving economic
Our customers
High Customer
Satisfaction
We have continued to increase
our net promoter score for
customer satisfaction.
+48nps
Delivering homes
+231homes
Millwrights Place
— Bristol
Millwrights Place, the second
of three Grainger developments
in Bristol. By creating an
operational cluster we are
investing £275 million in the local
Bristol community and providing
a total of 893 new, high-quality,
energy-efficient homes.
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Chief Executive’s statement continued
growth through stimulating the supply
side, particularly through the delivery
of 1.5 million new homes over this
Parliament. At the same time, the Labour
Government also committed to raising
standards in the private rented sector.
We have been heavily engaged in dialogue
with policy makers, including the Labour
Party, both before the election and now
they are in government, to ensure our
perspective is understood and that policy
and regulation continues to encourage
investment into private rented homes,
which is being met positively.
We were pleased to see that the Labour
Government publicly ruled out any form
of rent controls in favour of stimulating
housing supply and raising standards.
Proposals to raise rental standards have
been consistently informed by Grainger
over the years. We will continue to
engage with Government and policy
makers to ensure such changes protect
future investment and housing delivery.
Our ambition is to lead in the quality of
homes and services our customers enjoy.
The Labour Government’s commitment
to reforming the planning system to
stimulate housing delivery is also welcome
and aligns to our growth strategy.
We will continue to engage with policy
makers and the UK Government
in the shaping of future legislation
and regulation.
A great place to work
We know Grainger is a great place to
work because our colleagues tell us it is.
The number one reason is because
of the people.
I am very proud to announce that
Grainger this year achieved the UK’s
leading benchmark for Equality, Diversity
and Inclusion (ED&I), the National Equality
Standard, which entailed an in-depth
and comprehensive assessment of our
ED&I programme and supportive culture
and policies.
I am also proud that this year Grainger
was recognised as a leading FTSE business
for women in business, ranking 19th out
of the FTSE250 in the FTSE Women
Leaders review.
It is also pleasing to report that our
colleague engagement scores remain
high, achieving a ‘Very Good’ rating in our
annual survey administered independently
by Best Companies. Grainger is now in
the Top 100 Employers according
to Best Companies.
Outlook of compounding growth
and market momentum
FY24 marked another year of very strong
growth in net rental income and EPRA
earnings as our operating platform and
excellent pipeline continue to deliver
compounding growth. With earnings
guidance increased for the next two
years and a sizable opportunity for
further additional growth beyond, we are
accelerating our growth and delivering
on our strategy.
The market opportunity for the UK BTR
sector is substantial and Grainger, as
market leader with a proven track record
of successfully launching and operating
new BTR homes, is best placed to continue
to accelerate and grow in this sector.
Rental growth for the year ahead is
expected to remain above the long-term
historical average of 3.5% as well as above
our underwriting assumptions.
Our pipeline for growth is impressive
at c.50% of our current BTR portfolio.
This growth in our core cities will be
delivered with our strengthening
relations with partners including public
sector landowners.
Our asset recycling programme will
continue to support our growth ambitions
whilst allowing us to maintain a strong
balance sheet.
Structural undersupply combined with
a pipeline for growth, our expertise and
leading operating platform means we are
perfectly positioned to continue to grow
rapidly. The benefits of scale will enhance
returns and deliver compound earnings
growth for our Shareholders as well as
providing a great experience for renters.
I am proud to lead a great team whose
purpose is to enrich people’s lives by
the homes we create and the service
we deliver. I want to thank the Grainger
team, our Board and our Shareholders for
continuing to support us in this endeavour.
Helen Gordon
Chief Executive Officer
20 November 2024
Engaged
Workforce
Colleague engagement remains
high with Grainger now in the
Top 100 best companies in the
independently administered
survey by Best Companies.
Our colleagues
Grainger plc
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Grainger provides high quality, mid-
market homes to rent in vibrant, well-
connected locations across the UK.
We are working alongside and creating
exciting communities with teams
that go above and beyond to provide
exceptional customer service.
A good home is the foundation for
a great life, if you Rent Well then you
can Live Well.
Great customer
service
p14
Great communities
p16
Great value
p10
Great locations
p12
Great
Rening
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Annual Report and Accounts 2024
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Great
value
Co-working spaces included
With hybrid working as important as ever, we provide a
variety of flexible co-working spaces within our amenity
offering, including individual working pods, co-working
lounges and bookable meeting rooms, allwith free Wi-Fi.
On-site support
Grainger prides itself on great
customer service, and by directly
employing Resident Services
Teams, who are located within our
buildings, we ensure the highest
quality service. We provide in-house
customer service training to all our
employees ensuring consistency
across the business.
Included in your rent
Wi-Fi included
Co-working spaces
24hr Gym
Jnahan Pitt,
Director of Lettings &
Residential Marketing
Renting with Grainger is
more than just a home
When you rent with Grainger you get more than
a place to live. We provide a home in which you
can put down roots and grow. We offer flexible
long-term tenancies and rents that are affordable
to a wide range of households.
Our buildings and homes are designed with
people at the heart, with a variety of amenities
available to all customers at no extra cost,
including 24-hour gyms so residents can exercise
at a time convenient for them, free Wi-Fi in our
homes and amenity spaces so customers are
connected from day one and co-working spaces
for hybrid and flexible workers.
Our Resident Services teams are on hand to help
with any queries or just to be a friendly face, from
taking deliveries, arranging repairs to organising
social events.
“ Our affordable and
flexible tenancies
provideexceptional
valuefor residents.”
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Proportion of
household income
spent on rent
28%
Grainger customer
affordability ratio
34.2%
England's average private
rental affordability ratio
Gym at The Copper Works, Cardiff
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Annual Report and Accounts 2024
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lcains
Tm Grunds
Head of Research
Disciplined and
research-led
decision-making
Millwrights Place,
Bristol
Part of our Bristol
cluster, Millwrights Place
is Grainger’s second of
three BTR developments
in the city. By creating
an operational cluster,
we generate operational
efficiencies and can
further invest in the
customer experience.
Providing 833 homes in
Bristol .
New Launch –
The Silver Yard,
Birmingham
Providing 375 high quality,
one- and two-bedroom
rental homes in the heart
of the city, bringing our
regional offering up to
533 homes.
Great
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Q: How does Grainger identify its
‘Great Locations’?
We identify our great locations
through a rigorous investment and
research-led process. Through this
process we have scored all cities and
major towns throughout the UK and
identified the locations with the greatest
rental demand and greatest growth
prospects. Once identified we can then
look to allocate capital in line with our
strict investment criteria. We create
operational clusters, building scale
and opportunities for operational and
management efficiencies, and enhanced
customer service.
Q: What key criteria do great
locations require?
Our locations of focus are typically
built-up areas, mostly in cities, where
we see large numbers of 20- to 40-year-
old private renters, strong employment
easily accessible by public transport,
walking and cycling, as well as a
strong local amenity offering including
GPs, supermarkets, and cultural and
recreational facilities.
Q: How many homes do Grainger
typically build in their target
locations?
Grainger typically targets building sizes
of 150 to 300 homes, depending on the
market. We look to create clusters of
multiple buildings, totalling between
500 to 1,500 homes in a city or region,
varying dependent on the city size.
Q: Why does Grainger create
operational clusters?
By creating clusters and building scale
in our target locations we can drive
efficiencies across the cluster, from a
single building management team who
provide a consistent service across the
network of buildings in that location, to
using local suppliers and contractors to
service the cluster, therefore providing
cost savings and enhanced service.
8/10*
* As measured by Walk Score
Average
Connectivity Score
View of Bristol from Millwrights Place
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cusmer
service
Reception at The Copper Works, Cardiff
2022
+34
2023
+43
2024
+48
NPS score
Great
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Jeny Lrimer
Director of Customer Experience
Delivering a great
experience to customers
Our people are the leading reason customers recommend
living in a Grainger home. By providing consistently great
customer service, we aim to attract and retain high-value
customers. Through a customer experience programme
that is insight led we are delivering on our purpose of
renting homes, enriching lives.
Over the past three years we have developed and
implemented a series of targeted service initiatives from
improving all customer communications and providing
customer service training to all colleagues to developing
the MyGrainger customer app and launching a user-
friendly leasing website. Through these initiatives we have
repeatedly increased customer engagement levels
and satisfaction scores.
Building insight into our Customer
Experience strategy
Leveraging data to inform our decision-making
is the foundation to successfully delivering our
Customer Experience strategy. By measuring
Grainger's performance at every stage of the
customer journey we can collect and analyse
this data to inform and shape our service
delivery and continuously improve the service
we provide.
Customer website
In August, Grainger
launched a new
customer- facing,
leasing website. The site
showcases and advertises
Grainger’s available
homes in real-time and
provides users with a
step-by-step guide to
renting with Grainger,
allowing them to
easily find their new
Grainger home.
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