Retail park developer LXB Retail (LXB) made good progress in the six months to March, moving ahead with construction on its investment portfolio while also achieving planning consents and signing up more tenants.
Permission was granted for a number of sites, which has encouraged more retailers to commit to leases. Annual rent for pre-lettings agreed rose 18 per cent to £19m, and there's a further £2.8m of rent on units under offer. If all current outstanding planning applications and current lettings under offer were concluded successfully, this would equate to two-thirds of ground floor space in the portfolio and 70 per cent of the potential rent roll.
Adjusted book value rose by 4.3 per cent in the six months to 121.4p a share, but this could already be well out of date: earlier this month permission was granted (subject to a six-week judicial review period) for a £100m retail and leisure development on the Rushden Lakes site. Pre-lets have already been signed with Marks & Spencer and Costa, covering 32,000 sq ft of ground floor space.
The company reckons practical completion of all its investments would add around £120m or 65p a share to book value, equivalent to a built-out book value of 186p a share. However, shareholders have the option to wind up the company in September, in which case the full 65p uplift would probably not be realised. Oriel expects adjusted book value of 162p per share by September.
| LXB RETAIL PROPERTIES (LXB) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 123p | MARKET VALUE: | £226m | |
| TOUCH: | 123-124p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 134p | LOW: 110p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | DEVELOPMENT PROP: | nil | |
| PREMIUM TO NAV: | 2% | |||
| INVESTMENT PROP: | £200m | NET CASH: | £30m | |
| Half-year to 31 Mar | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 116 | 11.1 | 4.3 | nil |
| 2014 | 121 | 11.8 | 5.9 | nil |
| % change | +4 | +6 | +37 | - |
Ex-div: - Payment: - | ||||
