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Investment Case

Cairn is a leading Irish home and community builder committed to building homes within sustainable neighbourhoods where people can thrive. Cairn’s corporate objective is to deliver sustainable new homes, including houses, duplexes and apartments, to  our expanding and multiple markets at pace and scale, building communities that serve our country’s present and future needs. This can only be produced from a scalable operating platform, through established supply chain partnerships and on development sites from a historic low-cost c. 16,800 unit landbank. In our view, this is the most immediate, direct and delivery-focused way to make a real and meaningful impact in the Irish housing market.

Track record

  • Over 70% of our total landbank investment made within 18 months of June 2015 IPO. Nearly €1 billion invested to date in a c. 16,800 unit landbank.
  • Unparalleled planning expertise with over 12,000 new homes granted planning permission since 2015. We obtained five main grants of planning permission during 2022 comprising nearly 1,700 new homes.
  • We were active on 22 sites throughout 2022, supporting over 3,500 full-time positions. During 2022 we invested in nearly 1,800 new home commencements - a 30% increase on 2021 at a time when industry commencements fell by 12%.
  • Progressive shareholder return policy – delivering €117 million (€42 million ordinary dividends declared and €75 million share buyback programme) in 2022
  • Over 7,000 customers have chosen a Cairn home since 2016, including nearly 4,000 first time buyers.
  • Award winning developments including Mariavilla (Private Housing Project of the Year 2022 and the recipient of the Irish Landscape Institute Award for Biodiversity 2022) and Oak Park (Nature Conservation & Sustainability Award – ALCI Awards 2022)
  • Developer of the Year at the National Property Awards 2022.
  • External Validation of our sustainability journey having been awarded an improved A- score for our CDP submission in 2022 (an increase from our B score in 2021) and awarded a Silver Investors in Diversity status (Bronze in 2021).
  • Retained our Great Place to Work certification as one of Ireland’s Best Workplaces 2022 in the Best Large Category and ranked as one of the Top 20 Large Companies to work in Ireland.
Track record

Cairn differentiators

  • Established delivery platform across housing and apartments – closing 1,526 A-rated new homes in 2022 (+36% on FY21)
  • Strong asset-backed balance sheet with €199 million available liquidity available at the end of FY 2022.
  • €277.5 million sustainability linked term loan and revolving credit facility with AIB, Bank of Ireland and Barclays Bank Ireland, refinanced in July 2022, maintaining total debt facilities of €350 million.
  • Ireland’s largest self-build apartment developer with 1,800 apartments delivered to date across 11 developments and a further 1,900 apartments under construction across 11 of our new developments, in addition to 900 to start in 2023.
  • Established delivery partner for various State Agencies (incl. Approved Housing Bodies, Local Authorities and the Land Development Agency). Cairn was one of the largest providers of new Social & Affordable housing in Ireland in 2022, delivering 495 new A-rated homes.
  • Submitted our targets for reducing Scope 1,2 and 3 GHG emissions on the corporate gold standard SBTI (Science Based Targets Initiative) and we expect to have these targets validated in 2023.
  • Committed to delivering shareholder value now and into the long-term. In 2022, we delivered €117 million in shareholder returns, an increase of €95 million from 2021.
  • Disciplined approach to capital allocation, balanced between shareholder returns and ongoing investment in growing our business, which in tandem with an 87% increase in profit after tax to €81 million, delivered an improved ROE of 11%.
Cairn differentiators

Market opportunity

  • New homes supply increased by 45% in 2022 to nearly 30,000 new homes, however industry commencements were down 12% (Cairn up 30% to c. 1,800 new homes).
  • The Housing Commission, which was established under the Programme for Government, believes Ireland requires between 42,000 and 62,000 new homes every year until 2050 to meet demand
  • Our growth strategy allows us to respond to the continuing strong demand for new homes across all tenures in our multiple and expanding sales market channels, including:
    • Business to Customer
    • Business to Government;
    • and Business to Business.
  • Our regional expansion is extending our development footprint beyond the GDA with new site commencements in Cork, Limerick and Kilkenny during 2022. This will be followed soon by further expansion in Galway and potentially other regional locations.
Market opportunity

Scale and procurement advantages

  • Market leading efficiency as Ireland’s largest residential procurer of construction labour and materials
  • Plc platform of scale across low-density housing and high-density apartments.
  • €1.5 billion procured since IPO, including nearly €370 million in 2022 with a current committed order book in excess of €400 million.
  • Committed and loyal subcontractor base – top 20 subcontractors account for 60% of all procurement since IPO, averaging €45 million and working across an average of 17 sites each.
  • Standardisation through our Library of Homes and Apartments (standard internal layouts with different external design options), delivering productivity improvements through repeatability.
  • Significant investment in IT and innovation driving continuous improvement and efficiency in our business model.
Scale and procurement advantages

Great People

  • Cairn is committed to continuing to invest in our employee value proposition. Our reward and benefits portfolio remain a key strength in attracting and retaining employees, with additional wellbeing offerings including providing increased family health benefits and innovative mental health and diversity support initiatives becoming critical to supporting an engaged and productive workforce.
  • Certified as a Great Place To Work in 2022 and recognised as one of the Best Large Workplaces in Ireland (ranked 20th) in 2023.
  • 350 full-time employees as at 31 December 2022, with over 3,500 people working on Cairn sites across Ireland through our supply chain.
  • Talented team of homebuilders with national and international experience and technical expertise.
  • Committed to supporting growth and building talent from within through development programs, functional support and employee training.
Great People
Built For Good

Annual Report 2022

With a mature and scaled operating platform, our business has the resources and capabilities to deliver a wide choice of sustainable new homes where people and communities will thrive. Read our 2022 Annual Report to find out more.

Download Report

Annual Report 2022