One of The Local Shopping REIT's strengths is its focus on small retail outlets - this offers greater protection from the effects of, say, one large commercial development failure.
In fact, the company's customer base has shown remarkable resilience in the face of tough trading conditions and void rates actually improved marginally in the period - from 11.4 per cent to 11.3 per cent. The annual rent roll increased 5.6 per cent to £16.4m, too, helped by annual rental income of £0.98m generated from 107 new lettings. What's more, 198 rent reviews boosted income by £0.14m. And, as well as £0.12m of income from 19 recently developed flats, planning consent has also been secured on a further 50 flats. Moreover, the market value of the group's property portfolio was revalued to show a 10.6 per cent increase.
Since the year-end, the company has also established a joint venture with Pramerica Real Estate to invest £100m in the UK neighbourhood and retail convenience sector, of which Local Shopping will provide 20 per cent of the total equity. It will also act as asset manage and receive fees for sourcing investments.
Execution Noble is forecasting 2011 NAV of 79p.
| THE LOCAL SHOPPING REIT (LSR) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 56p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 46m | |
| TOUCH: | 55-58p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 71p | LOW: 47p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 6.4% | TRADING STOCK: | nil | |
| DISCOUNT TO NAV: | 20% | |||
| INVEST PROPERTIES: | £194m: | NET DEBT: | 228% | |
| Year to 30 Sep | Net asset value(p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 156 | -4.30 | -20.0 | 3.42 |
| 2008 | 112 | -40.5 | -44.5 | 5.75 |
| 2009 | 71.0 | -31.0 | -37.5 | 3.50 |
| 2010 | 70.0 | 1.82 | 2.20 | 3.60 |
| % change | -1 | - | - | +3 |
Ex-div:08 Dec Payment:31 Dec | ||||
