Anchor Annual Report & Financial Statements 2026 published

Anchor, England’s largest provider of specialist housing and care for people in later life, with more than 65,000 residents in almost 55,000 homes, announces its trading highlights and financial results for the year ended 31 March 2026.

Annual Report and Financial Statements 2026

Highlights

• Turnover increased by 6.5% to £722.4m (2025: £678.6m), driven by rent increases in line with the Rent Standard, higher care home occupancy and fee uplifts, and increased property sales activity. 
• The reported net deficit for the year was £39.4m (2025: £11.6m surplus), reflecting £50.5m of one-off and largely non-cash items rather than the underlying day-to-day performance of the organisation. Excluding these items, Anchor delivered an underlying net surplus of £11.1m, £0.5m lower than the prior year. 
• EBITDA MRI decreased to negative £6.2m (2025: £62.1m) largely due to £39.5m development provisions and write-downs, £8.9m regulatory compliance costs, £2.1m fire safety provision and £19.5m additional asset investment.
• Operating margin, adjusted for one-off items, was 6.8% (2025: 7.0%), reflecting continued cost pressures, while adjusted operating surplus before goodwill amortisation increased to £57.3m (2025: £56.2m). 
• Care performance strengthened for the second consecutive year, with care turnover increasing by 8.5% to £346.9m and operating surplus increasing to £14.9m (2025: £5.5m). Care occupancy increased by 0.8% to 90.4%.
• Housing turnover increased to £330.8m, up 3.7%, although housing occupancy reduced from 98.7% to 98.0% due to delays in returning void properties to use and re-letting them. 
• Anchor invested £76.6m in works to existing properties (2025: £57.1m), including major works and investment in energy efficiency. 
• 408 new homes reached practical completion during the year, comprising 146 social rented homes, 73 affordable rented homes and 189 shared ownership homes. 
• Anchor remained compliant with its financial covenants, which are primarily based on interest cover and gearing, and these continued to be met with considerable headroom. 
• Anchor retained its V1 viability grading from the Regulator of Social Housing and received a revised long-term A credit rating from Standard & Poor’s in March 2026, with a stable outlook. 
• Following the C3 consumer grading from the Regulator of Social Housing in February 2025 and G3 governance grading in June 2025, Anchor continued to deliver its Regulatory Compliance Improvement Plan. Progress has been made in governance, risk management, landlord health and safety, data quality, complaints handling and resident voice arrangements.

Summary financial performance for the year ended 31 March 2026

Operational highlights

In a challenging year following the Governance downgrade and wider economic pressures, Anchor’s underlying business remained resilient. Turnover growth reflected rent increases, higher care home occupancy and fee uplifts, and increased property sales activity. The reported deficit was driven by one-off and largely non-cash items, including development write-downs, a buyback provision, a fire safety provision and costs associated with the Regulatory Compliance Improvement Plan. 

Care home performance strengthened for the second consecutive year as Anchor continued to deliver its Care Strategy. Care turnover increased from £319.6m to £346.9m, operating surplus increased to £14.9m, and the operating margin improved for the fourth consecutive year. The improvement reflected higher occupancy and tighter cost control, particularly in staffing, with agency staffing costs reducing from £13.3m to £10.4m. 

Housing performance remained positive overall, although occupancy reduced to 98.0% as operational challenges increased void turnaround and re-let times. Demand for rental properties remained strong, with a waiting list of over 15,000 applicants and high demand for new rental developments. Actions have been taken to improve contractor performance and strengthen oversight of the voids process. 

Property sales increased during the year, generating turnover of £23.6m from 96 homes compared with £19.5m from 73 homes in 2025. Anchor continued its strategic shift away from outright sale, with 80 shared ownership sales and 16 outright sales. Included within the carrying value of historic developments was a one-off non-cash write down of £30.6m and an £11.7m provision for property buybacks, which do not reflect the performance of the wider development programme. 

Investment, development and sustainability

Anchor continued to invest in both new and existing homes. During the year, £76.6m was invested in works to existing properties, including £49.4m of major works investment, delivering 827 planned works jobs. A further £8.2m was invested in energy efficiency works across 243 properties that started on site during the year, supported by £3.8m of grant funding from the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund. 

A total of 408 new homes reached practical completion across five locations, comprising 146 social rented homes, 73 affordable rented homes and 189 shared ownership homes. Construction is ongoing across a further five locations, which are expected to deliver 413 homes. 

Treasury and financing

Anchor generated £114.6m of cash from operating activities during the year, £17.6m higher than the previous year. Cash outflows from investing activities totalled £147.1m, including £174.2m invested in new and existing properties.

Anchor had access to undrawn committed borrowing facilities of £171.0m from total facilities of £889.8m at 31 March 2026. Net debt, excluding finance lease obligations, was £704.3m. Anchor paid a fixed rate of interest on 64% of drawn debt, and gearing calculated in accordance with loan agreements but applied to the Group was 30.5% (2025: 29.9%). 

Residents, compliance and governance

Residents’ safety and trust remain Anchor’s priority. During the year Anchor made significant investment in landlord health and safety, spending £60.4m on servicing, inspection, surveys and remediation works. Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) compliance improved from 70% to 99.3% at 31 March 2026. 

Anchor continued to strengthen its approach to damp, mould and condensation, including a consistent organisation-wide case management process, clearer roles and responsibilities, improved escalation pathways, enhanced governance and a new case management app. 

Anchor’s Regulatory Compliance Improvement Plan remains a key area of focus. During the year, Anchor strengthened reporting to the Board on resident and building safety, refreshed governance and committee terms of reference, commissioned independent reviews, and began implementing a multi-year improvement plan for risk, control and assurance. Further work remains to fully embed the enhanced arrangements. 

Thank you

The Board is pleased to present these results and is grateful to residents, colleagues, funders, regulators, partners and stakeholders for their continued support as Anchor delivers its improvement plans and continues to invest in homes and services for people in later life.