Doomed disruptor Legal & General Homes Modular Ltd has posted its seventh consecutive annual pre-tax loss as it implements a plan to cease all operations within the next two years.
The company, which was launched in 2016 with big plans to “modernize the housebuilding industry”, said it will end in June 2025.
In accounts filed at Companies House on November 3, the company revealed a record pre-tax deficit of £120.8m for the calendar year 2022. It has made a loss every year of its existence, which brought a cumulative total of £294.4 million.
The accounts blamed its latest slide into the red on rising delivery costs, additional overheads “incurred in support of business growth” and balance sheet impairments related to its liquidation.
“The main activity of the company as of now is to close the factory, complete the existing developments and end the business once all these activities are completed,” the company’s directors stated.
Legal & General Homes Modular posted revenue of £39.9m last year, up from just £12.2m in the previous period. But his costs rose even further, from £15.2m to £47m.
The company had more liabilities than assets on its balance sheet at the end of 2022. Meanwhile, its staff costs soared 42 per cent to £27.6m, with headcount rising from 399 to 549 during the last period.
Directors received almost £1m in salary, benefits and other payments last year.
The company said earlier this year it would “halt new modular production” at its factory in Selby, Yorkshire, after it was unable to “secure the scale of pipe required to operate the current model”.
The off-premises sector, which was once presented as the undeniable future of construction, has had a series of setbacks in recent times.
Urban Splash’s modular spin-off went into administration in May 2022, citing operational problems at its Alfreton factory, while Midlands-based manufacturing specialist Caledonian Modular collapsed in March passed before being bought by JRL a few weeks later.
