In January, I had to submit my accounts for the first year of trading for Kensington & Falkner Estates Limited, my property development and investment company. The accounts were to the period 31 March 2016.

I am delighted to say that for our first year of trading, our turnover reached £1.7 million which was driven mainly by our Hamilton Square Development.

Our gross profit margin was at 10 per cent, which I am comfortable with for our first year of trading, but will look to improve in subsequent years.

Since the year end, our efforts have focused on:

• Successfully building out Hamilton Square and handing over 20 top end apartments to investors. As of writing, we have exited this deal with the exception of the freehold for 17/18 Hamilton Square which we are actively looking to sell on.
• Working with three strategic partners on further developments and planning gain deals in London and Birmingham.
• Successfully having contracts in place for two development projects in Plymouth, which will result in a further 20 apartments coming to the market in 2018.

Currently there is uncertainty around the UK property market as a result of BREXIT, Trump and the on-going tinkering of the housing policy by the government.

Consequently, to mitigate against any market risk, we will be adopting the following strategies:

• Continue to work closely with strategic partners where together we can add value to individual transactions.
• Focus on smaller developments typically of no more than 30 units so if there is a market down turn we are in a position to hold the end product till the market strengthens.
• Focus on selective regions outside of the South East, where I feel there is still potential for capital growth and high demand in the coming 12 to 24 months.
• Be driven by profitability rather than turnover.

I am hugely proud of what has been achieved in the first year of trading and am looking forward to continue to grow and develop the business in the coming years.