Centrus supported Notting Hill Genesis with its stress testing framework

Transaction overview

Centrus is delighted to have advised Notting Hill Genesis on the delivery of their annual stress testing exercise; this is the second consecutive year Centrus has supported the Group on this engagement.  

As one of the largest G15 housing associations, NHG operates across a multi-entity structure with an active sales programme.

Centrus delivered a stress testing framework tailored to NHG’s business plan and risk profile, balancing the complexity of the organisation with a disciplined and targeted approach to scenario design. The exercise focused on the risks most relevant to NHG and the wider housing sector, providing a robust assessment of resilience while ensuring reporting remained clear, accessible and decision focused.

What value did Centrus add?

The exercise required scenarios, metrics and reporting to be calibrated to NHG’s specific business plan whilst remaining anchored in the wider sector context. Working alongside the NHG team, Centrus led the engagement end-to-end, including:

• Refining the suite of stress scenarios from last year’s engagement, applying our expertise to reflect the latest organisation-specific risks and sector-wide pressures through a more targeted, efficient process
• Applying a methodical approach to selecting the financial metrics tested – including gearing, ICR and rating-agency metrics – to avoid overlapping between measures and cover distinct aspects of performance, from covenant compliance to long-term sustainability and core housing performance, refining the metric set again this year to sharpen that coverage
• Running the testing throughout, ensuring outputs were robust, internally consistent and decision-ready
• Producing reporting tailored to the needs of different stakeholder groups, from Board through to Executive and operational management

How did this transaction benefit NHG?

NHG’s corporate plan sets out an ambitious vision: continuing to invest in existing homes, delivering new affordable housing across London, and actively managing its stock portfolio through the disposal of non-core assets, whilst maintaining the financial strength required to support residents over the long term – all against a challenging operating backdrop for the sector. Delivering that requires confidence that the plan can withstand stress. This engagement gave NHG exactly that – a clear, evidenced view of resilience under a comprehensive range of scenarios, with reporting structured to meet the needs of each audience across the organisation, from Board oversight through to Executive and management-level decision-making.

“Stress testing across an organisation of our scale and complexity is a significant undertaking, and Centrus made the process as smooth and efficient as possible. Their expertise in refining the scenario suite and metrics gave us confidence that the results were both robust and clearly presented. Having worked with Centrus on this exercise for a second year, it’s a relationship we continue to value.”

Aaron Keyte, Finance Director: FP&A and Business Partner – NHG

“It was a pleasure to work alongside the NHG team for a second year on this exercise. In a fast-evolving operating environment, the challenge is ensuring the scenarios and test levels remain relevant year-on-year – and giving the Board and Executive a view of resilience under a range of scenarios, with reporting structured to meet the needs of each stakeholder group.“

Lorenzo Bono, Senior Associate – Centrus

For more information, please get in touch with Lorenzo Bono, Senior Associate for Housing, Education & Care.

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