S&P Revises Thrive Homes’ outlook to ‘positive’ and 'A' ratings affirmed

6 April 2022

Leading professional landlord Thrive Homes has had its outlook rating revised to ‘positive’ from ‘stable’ by the rating agency S&P Global, and ‘A’ ratings affirmed on its long-term issuer credit.

Thrive currently owns and manages over 5,000 homes across the home counties and has a development pipeline of 1,000. S&P Global Ratings forecast that the strong performance of Thrive’s core social housing portfolio and high demand for the group's Shared Ownership sales will continue to support its profitability.  

It was also stated that Thrive is well-placed for market resilience among its peers. It was projected that Thrive will maintain strong liquidity, benefiting from future drawdowns on a bond tap issued in November 2021. This positively reduces the need to borrow over the next few years.

Mark Farrar, Executive Director of Resources for Thrive Homes commented:

“It’s welcome news from S&P that affirms our position that Thrive is resilient in the sector and well placed for growth, with strong foundations given demand for much needed affordable homes in areas that are some of the most expensive to live in the UK.”

S&P Global also affirmed their 'A' issue rating on the £200 million senior secured bond issued by Thrive Homes Finance PLC, Thrive's funding vehicle. Thrive Homes Finance was set up for the sole purpose of issuing bonds and lending the proceeds to Thrive, and we view it as a core subsidiary of the Thrive group.