Primary care landlord Assura (AGR) continued to build its presence in what remains a highly fragmented market, buying 36 properties for £65m. These acquisitions helped to boost net rental income at the halfway stage by over a quarter to £28.1m, while the portfolio also received a £25.7m valuation uplift, more than double the previous year. Crucially, the revenue stream remains of the highest quality, with 87 per cent underpinned by the NHS.
A total of 62 rent reviews were concluded in the six months, with an annual average rental increase of 1.42 per cent, up from 1.27 per cent a year earlier. A quarter of the portfolio rent is weighted to inflation and other uplifts, and these rose by an average of 1.96 per cent. However, the rest is subject to open market reviews, where the average uplift remained modest at just 0.8 per cent.
A £300m equity placing after the half year cut the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio from 47 per cent to 27 per cent. With £350m available for further acquisitions, the LTV ratio is expected to increase to around 45 per cent, which is the middle of the targeted range.
Analysts at Liberum are forecasting adjusted net asset value of 47.2p a share by the March 2016 year-end (from 44p in 2015).
| ASSURA (AGR) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 54.75p | MARKET VALUE: | £895m | |
| TOUCH: | 54.5-55p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 62p | LOW: 47p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.7% | DEVELOPMENT PROPERTIES: | £4.6m | |
| PREMIUM TO NAV: | 16% | NET DEBT: | 109% | |
| INVESTMENT PROPERTIES: | £1bn | |||
| Half-year to 30 Sep | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 44.9 | 16.5 | 2.9 | 0.9 |
| 2015 | 47.0 | 35.4 | 3.5 | 1* |
| % change | +5 | +115 | +21 | +11 |
*Quarterly dividend payments, 0.5p paid on 4 November | ||||
