Affinity Sutton Capital Markets PLC Investor update (5098S)

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RNS Number : 5098S

Affinity Sutton Capital Markets PLC

21 December 2016

The HCA has today issued a Regulatory Notice, concluding that one of the legacy bodies of Clarion Housing Group, Circle Housing, breached the Homes Standard and caused risk of serious detriment to its tenants.

The Notice identifies a number of service failures which have affected Circle Housing residents, particularly in parts of London, which Clarion Housing Group is taking urgent steps to address.

The Group is confident that we have the right balance of determination, skills and experience to solve these problems.

Some of the improvements required will take time, but we are already putting a programme in place to transform the way services are delivered. As a start, residents have struggled to reach our contact centre and we are in the process of fixing this problem - we are already able to answer calls more quickly but there are more improvements to come. Over the coming months we will work closely with residents, the HCA and other stakeholders to ensure our services and performance, and that of our contractors, meet the expectations our residents can reasonably expect and the standards set by the regulator.

The HCA has retained Clarion Housing Group's governance rating at G2, following their interim judgement announced on 15 December 2016. This reflects the lower of the two ratings of Circle Housing and Affinity Sutton, in line with its new policy on mergers. Clarion Housing Group is focused on dealing with the serious issues raised by the HCA in today's notice and continues to work towards a G1 grade.

The full Regulatory Notice can be found on the HCA's website.

An investor update call will hosted by Clarion Housing Group at 15:00 today. Those wishing to participate can dial in using the following details.

Conference call details:

Dial In: +44 20 3139 4830

Participant Pin: 29778278#

Separately, and as anticipated following completion of the merger, Moody's has downgraded the long-term issuer rating of Clarion Housing Group to A2 with a negative outlook, in line with the rating of Circle prior to merger. Moody's notes, however, that Affinity Sutton has a history of successful mergers. The negative outlook reflects the sector wide risks on the housing association sector following the UK vote to leave the EU.

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Anna Upton, Head of External Relations, Clarion Housing Group on anna.upton@clarionhg.com or 07977 285 443

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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December 21, 2016 09:21 ET (14:21 GMT)

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