The meteoric rise of retail property operator NewRiver Retail (NRR) showed no sign of slackening in the year to March, with gross assets under management jumping 42 per cent to £848m. Having started out in 2009 with a seed capital of just £25m, the company is now capitalised at £400m. That's partly due to canny property management and partly due to regular placings, the most recent of which raised £75m in December at 275p a share.
Adjusted net asset value rose by 10.5 per cent to 265p over the year, boosted by a £21m valuation uplift in the portfolio. The funds raised were used to purchase the remaining 90 per cent it did not own in a major shopping centre, while its debt portfolio was refreshed with £278m of new borrowings, some of which were used to replace existing facilities. This helped reduce the cost of debt to 3.8 per cent.
The retail property sector may not be flourishing as much as offices or industrial property, but NewRiver has proved to be adept at picking up convenience-store assets at bargain prices. Including joint ventures, the group deployed £330m on a range of acquisitions, with a weighted net initial yield of 8.1 per cent. This compares favourably with disposals made during the year at a yield of 7 per cent.
Analysts at Liberum are forecasting adjusted book value of 285p by March 2016.
| NEWRIVER RETAIL (NRR) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 315p | MARKET VALUE: | £400m | |
| TOUCH: | 314-316p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 320p | LOW: 273p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 5.4% | TRADING PROPERTIES: | nil | |
| PREMIUM TO NAV: | 18% | |||
| INVESTMENT PROPERTIES: | £517m* | NET DEBT: | 49% | |
| Year to 31 Mar | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 273 | 4.9 | 23.1 | 5.5 |
| 2012 | 254 | 4.0 | 15.3 | 15 |
| 2013 | 235 | 1.4 | 4.7 | 16 |
| 2014 | 241 | 23.1 | 38.0 | 16 |
| 2015 | 267 | 39.5 | 37.5 | 17** |
| % change | +11 | +71 | -1 | +6 |
Ex-div:- Payment:- *Includes investments in joint ventures **Fourth quarterly dividend of 4.25p paid on 18 May | ||||
