Kennedy Wilson Europe (KWE) has been around since February 2014, and in that relatively short space of time it has accumulated a property portfolio comprising 252 directly owned assets covering over 9.1m sq ft and valued at £2.2bn at the half-year stage.
This enormous pace of development has been part-funded by £1bn raised at the time of flotation, a share placing and other loans. Net debt at the half year stood at £690m, but given the group's ability to pick up assets cheaply, with a view to refurbishment and higher rental values, the loan-to-value ratio, assisted by a £121m valuation uplift, was a more modest 31.1 per cent. In addition, while the gross yield on the portfolio is around 6.5 per cent, the weighted average cost of debt is still a modest 2.78 per cent. Acquisitions completed during the period came to £639m, and a further £228m of acquisitions have been secured since then at an average yield on cost of 8 per cent.
With such a fast-expanding portfolio, rental income jumped from £7.4m a year earlier to £64.7m, easily covering total expenses of £40.8m. Strong cash generation has also prompted an increase in the quarterly dividend to 10p a share, which would equate to a potential annualised yield of 3.3 per cent.
Prior to these numbers, broker Davy Research was forecasting net asset value by the year-end of 1,202p.
| KENNEDY WILSON EUROPE REAL ESTATE (KWE) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 1,210p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.64bn | |
| TOUCH: | 1,209-1,213p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 1,253p | LOW: 1,010p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.8% | DEVELOPMENT PROPERTIES: | £101m | |
| PREMIUM TO NAV: | 8% | NET DEBT: | 46% | |
| INVESTMENT PROPERTIES: | £1.78bn | |||
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 991 | 24.7 | 37.6 | 2.00 |
| 2015 | 1,116 | 152.5 | 110.2 | 18* |
| % change | +13 | +517 | +193 | +800 |
Ex-div: 13 Aug Payment: 28 Aug *Dividends paid quarterly | ||||
