A renaissance in the UK regional property market helped Schroder Real Estate Investment Trust (SREI) deliver a transformational performance in the year to March. There were still one or two items that distorted the headline picture, such as one-off break costs of £15m on interest rate swaps, but the underlying performance was strong. Crucially, the previous year's £20.8m valuation loss was replaced by a gain of £15.7m. Book value rose 8 per cent over the fiscal year to 48.6p a share, but Schroder also released an update showing a rise to 50.7p by the end of June.
In order to tap into the improving regional market, the company raised £17.2m in January through a share placing, and in June a further placing raised an additional £40.2m. The company also has an option to raise a further £60m.
Rental income was slightly lower, at £20.2m, but that merely reflects a number of disposals made early in the year. In fact, the rent roll - an annualised figure that takes recently acquired assets into account - rose nearly 12 per cent to £21m over the year. Those recent acquisitions include key sites in Leeds and Manchester.
| SCHRODER REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST (SREI) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 52.3p | MARKET VALUE: | £247m | |
| TOUCH: | 52.3-52.5p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 55p | LOW: 43p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 5.2% | TRADING PROPERTIES: | nil | |
| PREMIUM TO NAV: | 8% | |||
| INVESTMENT PROPERTIES: | £298m | NET DEBT: | 59% | |
| Year to 31 Mar | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 52.4 | 36.0 | 10.7 | 3.52 |
| 2011 | 50.9 | 11.1 | 3.0 | 3.52 |
| 2012 | 50.6 | 12.1 | 3.1 | 3.52 |
| 2013 | 45.1 | -10.8 | -3.0 | 3.52 |
| 2014 | 48.6 | 20.9 | 5.7 | 2.74 |
| % change | +8 | - | - | -22 |
Ex-div: - Payment: * *Dividends paid quarterly. Fourth-quarter dividend of 0.62p paid on 25 April | ||||
