Honey ties up refinancing to fuel expansion
The Sheffield-based housebuilder has secured an £80m revolving credit facility, with existing backer OakNorth joined by NatWest.
Honey said that the package will underpin its expansion plans, which include the opening of a third regional office in the second half of this year.
The new facility, which has an accordion option to grow to £100m, has been agreed with existing funding partner OakNorth and incoming lender NatWest. This takes Honey’s total available bank facilities to £180m.
Currently working out of Sheffield and Leeds, Honey intends to open an office in the East Midlands.
The business was launched in October 2022 and has since secured 31 immediate sites that will deliver 5,010 homes with a combined gross development value of £1.4bn.
Honey is now 44% forward-sold for 2026 and on track to deliver more than £175m of revenue this year with a projected profit of between £20m and £27m. In 2027, the housebuilder expects to achieve 1,000 legal completions.
The company, which employs 130 people, is backed by private equity firm Alchemy Partners and its Alchemy Special Opportunities Fund IV.
Honey chief financial officer Jeremy Gledhill said: “This is a key milestone in Honey’s ongoing growth journey with our banking partners continuing to show great support for our business.
“This additional RCF facility significantly further strengthens that support. It provides us with the flexibility to continue to be active and agile in the land market and to open a third region in the East Midlands.
“We are very pleased that OakNorth Bank has expanded its commitments to Honey having been with us since day one and thrilled in equal measure to have added NatWest as a funder.
“We view this as a sign of Honey’s continuing maturity as a business, having come a very long way since we were founded.”
Damien Hughes, senior director of property finance at OakNorth, said: “It has been a pleasure to support Honey as the company has continued to grow by building on the facilities we provided since it was established.
“It has been impressive to witness the fast growth Honey has achieved, and we look forward to seeing that continue alongside our future relationship.”
