b'Group Financial ACCOUNTSPerformanceThe financial statements reflect the financial performance and financial position of the Choice Group for the year ended 31 March 2019 and has been prepared in accordance with FRS102 and Housing SORP 2014. The figures for Group include the Parent and our subsidiaries: Oaklee Housing, Acorn Housing,The Group continues to grow from strength to Maple & May Limited, Maple & May (Homes)strength each year and this is clearly reflected Limited, Comhar FM Limited and Choicein our consolidated balance sheet, where we Services (Ireland) Limited. now have total reserves of 110 million.The Group reported a strong financialDuring the year events outside our control performance for the 2018/2019 financial continue to pose financial challenges and year with a surplus of 8.5m (2018: 8.2m).opportunities. These include:These surpluses will be set aside to cover our debt repayments and invested into projectsPolitical uncertainty and Welfare Reform;such as our planned and cyclical maintenanceReclassification of the sector;programme in later years.Constraints on public sector funding;Changes in the local property market; andOur annual turnover was 68.8m in 2018/19Economic uncertainty.compared to 62.9m last year. Rental income increased in Choice by 3.5m and in Oaklee/ We believe we are well placed to meet these Acorn by 2.4m. challenges. We have set out our financialplans for 2019/2020 and beyond and are The Group invested an additional 75m inalready looking forward to anotherhousing assets, bringing their total value tosuccessful year ahead. 1057m. The number of units in management at the balance sheet date within the Group was 11,604 (2018: 11,123). This increase reflects our development activity in Choice, Oaklee/Acorn and Maple & May. Long-term borrowing is an essential element in financing our projects. During the year our debt increased by 45m to 276m. We operate a prudent treasury management policy and at all times maintain sufficient liquidity to meet near term commitments. We achieved further drawdowns under our 150m finance contract with the European Investment Bank (EIB) which will provide us with the private finance we need for our social housing development programme in Northern Ireland into the medium term. Oaklee and its subsidiary continued to fund its development programme in the Republic of Ireland through borrowings from Nord, HFAand local authorities. Choice Annual Report | 2018/1943'