The attractions of the London office market have prompted a "step-change" from Helical Bar (HLCL), which has decided to hold on to most of its development and refurbishment schemes in the capital. A signal of its faith in the market saw Helical take The Bower development in Old Street on to its own balance sheet in November, after buying out its joint-venture partner for £248m. This will take Helical's London holdings to 55 per cent of its investment portfolio.
This approach certainly paid off in the six months to September, with a near doubling in the valuation uplift to £68.1m, and an 11 per cent rise in net rental income, helping to push adjusted net asset value per share up by 13.2 per cent to 436p. Capital recycling, whereby assets are sold off to allow the proceeds to be invested more profitably, saw the disposal of its site at Clifton Street, Enterprise House and Artillery Lane.
Within the regional portfolio, £71m was spent on the acquisition of 10 distribution warehouses, yielding an average of 7.7 per cent and partly funded by the sale of nine smaller assets.
Analysts at Peel Hunt are forecasting adjusted net asset value at the March 2016 year end of 447p a share (from 385p in 2015).
| HELICAL BAR (HLCL) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 452.5p | MARKET VALUE: | £535m | |
| TOUCH: | 452.5-454.5p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 465p | LOW: 343p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.6% | TRADING PROPERTIES: | £91.6m | |
| PREMIUM TO NAV: | 13% | |||
| INVESTMENT PROPERTIES: | £869m* | NET DEBT: | 112%* | |
| Half-year to 30 Sep | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 322 | 42.9 | 32.0 | 2.1 |
| 2015 | 400 | 85.9 | 66.1 | 2.3 |
| % change | +24 | +100 | +107 | +10 |
Ex-div: 3 Dec Payment: 30 Dec *Includes joint ventures | ||||
