Sovereign Housing Capital Plc Press Release 30 June 2023 (6094E)

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RNS Number : 6094E

Sovereign Housing Capital Plc

30 June 2023

Sovereign's response to governance upgrade

The Regulator of Social Housing has today published a regulatory judgement upgrading Sovereign Housing's governance rating from G2 to G1. In June 2022 the Regulator downgraded Sovereign to G2, stating that while Sovereign's governance remained compliant the housing association needed to improve some aspects of its governance arrangements.

As the Regulatory judgement last June stated, issues with historic data meant that we breached the Home Standard by "failing to meet statutory health and safety requirements in relation to fire, electrical and asbestos safety in some communal areas" in our blocks. We remained fully compliant in relation to our customers' homes.

In August 2021, as soon as we were aware of gaps in our data, we referred ourselves to the regulator and have been working closely with them ever since. We set up three parallel recovery programmes. The asbestos safety programme was completed by the end of December 2021, the electrical safety programme by the end of January 2022 and the fire risk assessment programme by the end of February 2022. The actions from those checks are being completed as part of Sovereign's ongoing building safety programme. Alongside the recovery programme, Sovereign has established a new Building Safety Compliance Framework.

Today's judgement from the Regulator states that "Sovereign has now satisfactorily addressed those issues" and "validated its data, introduced new systems and processes, strengthened its internal controls and improved board reporting and oversight of its landlord health and safety risk."

ENDS

For more information, please contact:

Graeme Gilbert, Treasury Director, Sovereign Housing Association 07392130856 [e-mail]

Charles Pitt, Corporate Affairs Director, Sovereign Housing Association

07887524378 [e-mail]

Disclaimer The information contained herein (the "Trading Update") has been prepared by Sovereign Housing Association Limited (the "Parent") and its subsidiaries (the "Group"), including Sovereign Advances Ltd, Sovereign Housing Capital PLC (the "Issuers") and is for information purposes only.

The Trading Update should not be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities issued by the Parent, the Issuers or any other member of the Group, or any interest in any such securities, and nothing herein should be construed as a recommendation or advice to invest in any such securities.

Statements in the Trading Update, including those regarding possible or assumed future or other performance of the Group as a whole or any member of it, industry growth or other trend projections may constitute forward-looking statements and as such involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, no assurance is given that such forward-looking statements will prove to have been correct. They speak only as at the date of the Trading Update and neither the Parent nor any other member of the Group undertakes any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments, occurrence of unanticipated events or otherwise.

None of the Parent, any member of the Group or anyone else is under any obligation to update or keep current the information contained in the Trading Update. The information in the Trading Update is subject to verification, does not purport to be comprehensive, is provided as at the date of the Trading Update and is subject to change without notice.

No reliance should be placed on the information or any projections, targets, estimates or forecasts and nothing in the Trading Update is or should be relied on as a promise or representation as to the future. No statement in the Trading Update is intended to be an estimate or forecast. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is given by or on behalf of the Parent, any other member of the Group or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, advisers, agents or any other persons as to the accuracy or validity of the information or opinions contained in the Trading Update (and whether any information has been omitted from the Trading Update). The Trading Update does not constitute legal, tax, accounting or investment advice.

www.sovereign.org.uk/investors

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June 30, 2023 10:11 ET (14:11 GMT)