Springfield Properties (LSE:SPR), the AIM-listed Scottish housebuilder, has sold land equating to 170 plots at one of its Central Scotland sites for £12m, receiving the full amount in cash on completion.
The company used £6.5m of those proceeds to pay off the remaining deferred consideration owed for its June 2022 acquisition of Mactaggart & Mickel Group's Scottish housebuilding business. That deal carried £30.8m of deferred consideration, payable proportionally as homes were sold over five years.
As at 31 May, £20.7m remained outstanding; that balance has now been fully settled.
Chief executive Innes Smith said the transaction completes a strategy set two years ago to unlock value from Springfield's land bank through profitable land sales.
"By applying proceeds from this land sale to settle the final Mactaggart & Mickel acquisition payment, we have also completed the deferred consideration significantly ahead of schedule," he said.
Smith noted the move follows Springfield's recent announcement that it reached a net bank cash position ahead of market expectations, adding that the settlement further strengthens the balance sheet ahead of future growth opportunities.
News Intelligence what this means for the company
Springfield Properties used £6.5m from a £12m land sale to eliminate the final £20.7m tranche of deferred consideration for its 2022 Mactaggart & Mickel acquisition, settling it years ahead of the original five-year schedule. The move caps a two-year deleveraging arc: the company has swung from peak net bank debt of £93.4m in November 2023 to net bank cash of approximately £1m at 31 May 2026, and this settlement further strengthens the balance sheet ahead of growth initiatives.
The early settlement of a major acquisition liability removes a material drag on cash flow and signals disciplined capital allocation. Combined with the shift to net cash and an initial agreement with SSEN Transmission to deliver almost 300 homes, Springfield has moved from debt-constrained to balance-sheet-enabled, positioning it to pursue the North of Scotland build-and-lease strategy without acquisition overhang.
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