WATKIN JONES PLC
WATKIN JONES PLC is a public limited company registered in England and Wales under company number 09791105, according to Companies House. Incorporated on 23 September 2015 – initially as HDCO3 Limited, then briefly as Watkin Jones Limited before adopting its current name on 15 March 2016 – the company is currently recorded with an “Active” status, with its registered office at Fourth Floor, Sicilian House, 21 Southampton Row, London, WC1B 5HA. Companies House classifies its principal activity under UK Standard Industrial Classification code 41100, development of building projects.
WATKIN JONES PLC develops and manages residential property for rent across the United Kingdom, operating through five segments: Student Accommodation, Build to Rent, Affordable Homes, Refresh (refurbishment and redevelopment) and Accommodation Management, the last delivered under the Fresh brand. The group develops purpose-built student accommodation and build-to-rent apartment schemes, which it typically forward-sells to institutional investors, and separately manages completed student and rental accommodation on behalf of institutional clients. Fresh managed 21,019 student beds and apartments across 66 schemes as at 30 September 2025, up from 18,656 units across 58 schemes a year earlier.
WATKIN JONES PLC’s ordinary shares have traded on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock Exchange, since March 2016 under the ticker WJG. For the financial year ended 30 September 2025, the group reported revenue of £279.8 million, down 22.8% from £362.4 million in the prior year, alongside an operating loss of £5.8 million (FY2024: operating profit of £3.6 million) and adjusted net cash of £70.5 million. During the year the company completed four development schemes and secured £340 million of forward-sold revenue for FY2026 and beyond, against a total development pipeline of approximately £2 billion. Recent transactions include the sale of a Glasgow student accommodation scheme into a joint venture in which Maslow Capital holds a 95% interest, expected to generate approximately £115 million of future revenue, and new development partnerships covering an aparthotel scheme in Southwark and an affordable-homes scheme with Torus.
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Shareholders
5
Shareholders of WATKIN JONES PLC
WATKIN JONES PLC discloses its major shareholders on its investor relations website rather than through the UK persons-with-significant-control (PSC) regime, reflecting its status as an AIM-listed company with a dispersed shareholder base. As at 14 August 2026, the company’s major shareholders page listed nine holdings above its disclosure threshold: Gresham House (14.7%), FIL Investment International (10.6%), Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management (8.3%), Interactive Investor (6.3%), Fulcrum Global Investments (5.0%), Mr Mark Watkin Jones (4.4%), Octopus Investments (4.2%), Janus Henderson Investments (3.3%) and Halifax Share Dealing (3.2%). Several of these, including Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management, Interactive Investor and Halifax Share Dealing, are retail investment platforms whose nominee accounts aggregate holdings for many underlying retail clients rather than representing a single beneficial owner. As at 1 September 2026, the company reported that 26.34% of its issued share capital was not held in public hands, implying a free float of approximately 73.66%, out of 256,926,493 ordinary shares in issue with none held in treasury.
Data availability
Classification: Major shareholders only. WATKIN JONES PLC filed a statement with Companies House on 12 November 2019 confirming there is no registrable person with significant control, so its shareholder disclosure is instead governed by regulatory notification thresholds rather than the PSC regime. The figures above represent major and platform-nominee holdings only, not a complete shareholder register, and no current ultimate beneficial owner meeting a control threshold has been identified.
Sources
- Watkin Jones plc – Major Shareholders, investor relations website (retrieved 10 September 2026)
- Companies House – Persons with Significant Control, company number 09791105 (retrieved 10 September 2026)
Registry feed — rows exactly as filed with Companies House, including entries the profile above does not cover.
| Shareholder | Type | Holding | Source Document |
|---|---|---|---|
| DFA United Kingdom Small Company Series | 17.7% | Companies House | |
| DFA International Core Equity Portfolio | 8.2% | Companies House | |
| DFA International Sustainability Core 1 Portfolio | 2.5% | Companies House | |
| WisdomTree Tr-WisdomTree Dynamic Currency Hedged Intl Small Cap Equity | 2.2% | Companies House | |
| DFA International Small Cap Value Portfolio | 1.9% | Companies House |
Officers
16
Directors and officers of WATKIN JONES PLC
Companies House records seven active officer appointments for WATKIN JONES PLC and eleven resigned appointments. The active board comprises six directors: Alan Clifford Bence Giddins (Chair, appointed 19 July 2021), Alex Pease (Chief Executive Officer, appointed 10 October 2022), Simon David Ainslie Jones (Chief Financial Officer, appointed 21 May 2024), Rachel Bernadette Addison Horsley (appointed 1 April 2022), Elizabeth Mcgee Reilly (appointed 21 January 2019) and Francis William Salway (appointed 10 October 2022). All six are recorded with British nationality; country of residence is recorded as England for three of them (Giddins, Addison Horsley and Reilly) and as United Kingdom for the other three (Pease, Jones and Salway). The company secretary is Bernwood Cosec Limited, a corporate officer appointed 6 February 2026 in place of an individual secretary. This overview reflects Companies House officer data retrieved 10 September 2026.
Recent officer changes
- Bernwood Cosec Limited was appointed Company Secretary effective 6 February 2026, per Companies House filing, replacing Adam McGhin, who resigned the same date.
Data availability
Classification: Current only. Companies House publishes current director appointment dates, nationality and country of residence for WATKIN JONES PLC, but occupation, as distinct from each director’s legal role, is not separately reported for these appointments. The correspondence address recorded for each active officer is a service address only, not a residential address, and has not been used to infer nationality or residence.
Sources
- Companies House – Officers list, company number 09791105 (retrieved 10 September 2026)
Registry feed — rows exactly as filed with Companies House, including entries the profile above does not cover.
Group Structure
Group structure of WATKIN JONES PLC
WATKIN JONES PLC is the top listed entity of the Watkin Jones group; Companies House confirms it filed a statement on 12 November 2019 that no person or entity holds significant control over it, and no parent company is registered above it. Companies House PSC filings confirm WATKIN JONES PLC as the immediate parent of Watkin Jones Group Limited (company number 04084303), notified 6 April 2016, which is in turn the immediate parent of Watkin Jones Holdings Limited (company number 03520497), notified 25 February 2017, making the latter a verified indirect subsidiary of WATKIN JONES PLC. The group’s internally held corporate-linkage records indicate a substantially larger structure beneath these two entities, comprising approximately 80 further UK-registered subsidiaries, most incorporated as single-purpose vehicles for individual student accommodation and build-to-rent development sites, together with the Watkin Jones & Son Limited trading company and the Fresh accommodation-management operating companies. This overview reflects Companies House PSC filings and the group’s internal records reviewed 8–10 September 2026.
Verified corporate relationships
| Entity | Country | Registration number | Relationship | Ownership | Status | Information date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watkin Jones Group Limited | England and Wales, United Kingdom | 04084303 | Direct subsidiary | 75% or more of shares and voting rights (Companies House PSC register) | Active | 6 April 2016 |
| Watkin Jones Holdings Limited | England and Wales, United Kingdom | 03520497 | Indirect subsidiary (via Watkin Jones Group Limited) | 75% or more of shares and voting rights held by Watkin Jones Group Limited (Companies House PSC register) | Active | 25 February 2017 |
| Watkin Jones & Son Limited | England and Wales, United Kingdom | 02539870 | Indirect subsidiary | Ownership percentage not disclosed | Active | 8 September 2026 |
Recent structural changes
No verified recent acquisitions, disposals or reorganisations affecting the top of the group structure were identified; new subsidiary incorporations for individual development sites continue on an ongoing basis and are not itemised here.
Data availability
Classification: Partial. Companies House PSC filings confirm the two-tier ownership chain from WATKIN JONES PLC through Watkin Jones Group Limited to Watkin Jones Holdings Limited at the 75%-or-more banded threshold. The much larger population of single-purpose development and operating subsidiaries below that level is drawn from the group’s internally held corporate-linkage records rather than independently re-verified Companies House filings for each entity, and is presented as indicative rather than fully verified.
Sources
- Companies House – Persons with Significant Control, company number 09791105 (retrieved 10 September 2026)
- Companies House – Persons with Significant Control, company number 04084303 (retrieved 10 September 2026)
- Companies House – Persons with Significant Control, company number 03520497 (retrieved 10 September 2026)
WATKIN JONES PLC
United Kingdom
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Frequently Asked Questions
What does WATKIN JONES PLC do?
WATKIN JONES PLC (company number 09791105) is a public limited company registered in England and Wales, incorporated on 23 September 2015, formerly named HDCO3 Limited and then Watkin Jones Limited before adopting its current name on 15 March 2016, and classified by Companies House under SIC code 41100 (development of building projects); it develops and manages residential property for rent across the United Kingdom, including student accommodation and build-to-rent housing.
Who owns WATKIN JONES PLC?
As at 14 August 2026, WATKIN JONES PLC's investor relations website listed Gresham House (14.7%), FIL Investment International (10.6%) and Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management (8.3%) as its largest disclosed shareholders, with approximately 26.34% of issued share capital not held in public hands as at 1 September 2026.
Who is WATKIN JONES PLC's UBO (Ultimate Beneficial Owner)?
Every shareholder recorded for WATKIN JONES PLC is itself a company rather than a natural person, so no Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) is identified at this level; establishing one would require tracing the ownership of each shareholding company in turn.
What is WATKIN JONES PLC's company registration number?
WATKIN JONES PLC's registration number is 09791105, filed with Companies House in United Kingdom. Its current status on the register is active.
Is WATKIN JONES PLC still an active company?
WATKIN JONES PLC's status on Companies House is listed as active.
When was WATKIN JONES PLC incorporated?
WATKIN JONES PLC was incorporated on 23 September 2015, according to Companies House.
What is WATKIN JONES PLC's registered address?
The registered address on file for WATKIN JONES PLC is London, United Kingdom.
What legal structure is WATKIN JONES PLC registered as?
WATKIN JONES PLC is registered as a Public Limited Company in United Kingdom.
What is WATKIN JONES PLC's revenue?
For the year ended 30 September 2025, WATKIN JONES PLC reported group revenue of £279.8 million, down 22.8% from £362.4 million in the prior year, with an operating loss of £5.8 million and adjusted net cash of £70.5 million.
Is WATKIN JONES PLC listed on a stock exchange?
WATKIN JONES PLC's ordinary shares have traded on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock Exchange, under the ticker WJG since March 2016.
Who are the officers/directors of WATKIN JONES PLC?
Companies House records six active directors for WATKIN JONES PLC as at 10 September 2026: Alan Clifford Bence Giddins (Chair), Alex Pease (Chief Executive Officer), Simon David Ainslie Jones (Chief Financial Officer), Rachel Bernadette Addison Horsley, Elizabeth Mcgee Reilly and Francis William Salway, all recorded with British nationality.
Does WATKIN JONES PLC have a parent company or subsidiaries?
Companies House PSC filings confirm WATKIN JONES PLC as the immediate parent of Watkin Jones Group Limited (company number 04084303), notified 6 April 2016, which is in turn the immediate parent of Watkin Jones Holdings Limited (company number 03520497), notified 25 February 2017.
Can Zavia monitor changes to WATKIN JONES PLC's ownership over time?
This profile reflects a point-in-time snapshot from Companies House. Zavia's monitoring API can track changes to WATKIN JONES PLC's registered shareholders, officers, and group structure going forward, flagging updates as they're filed rather than requiring a manual recheck.
Can I access WATKIN JONES PLC's data through an API?
Yes. Zavia's API connects directly to official government ownership registries across 195 countries and territories, including United Kingdom, so records like WATKIN JONES PLC's registration, shareholder, UBO, and group-structure data can be queried programmatically instead of viewed one page at a time.
Where does this company information come from, and how current is it?
This record is sourced directly from Companies House and was last synced on 8 September 2026.