The share performance of Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate (KWE) says much about investor paranoia over Brexit and very little about how well the company is performing. On the one hand, last year's portfolio valuation uplift of £208m was replaced by a £10.8m devaluation (hence the slide in headline profits), whereas in the real world net operating income was up by nearly a quarter at £160m, adjusted earnings per share grew by 14 per cent to 74.1p, and the dividend payout jumped by more than a third. All this meant that adjusted net assets per share actually grew by 3.5 per cent to 1,216p.
During 2016, a total of 140 lease transactions were completed on 1.1m sq ft of space, at an average 11.4 per cent ahead of previous passing rent and 3.1 per cent above the previous estimated rental value. Disposals made during the year totalled £413m equating to a return on cost of 31.8 per cent. Most of these were in the UK, taking its portfolio exposure here down from 62 per cent to 56 per cent.