Created out of last year’s merger between London & Stamford and Metric Property Investments, LondonMetric Property (LMP) is well over half way through restructuring the combined entity. The portfolio has been recentred on shops and distribution centres, with 48 new tenants signed up over the year to March, lifting the annualised rent roll by 16 per cent to £72.7m.
Gross rental income grew by 30 per cent as the company has sold low-yielding properties and reinvested the proceeds into higher-yielding assets. During the year there were £568m of disposals at an average yield of 4.4 per cent (including £171m from the run down of its residential portfolio), and nearly £406m of acquisitions at 7.6 per cent. The strength of the market also contributed towards a revaluation surplus of £95.9m, reducing the loan-to-value ratio from 43 to 32 per cent.
The company has also strengthened its revenue stream, pushing the average unexpired lease term up from 11.6 years to 12.7 years. Crucially, only 4.3 per cent of rental income is due to expire over the next five years.
Analysts at Peel Hunt are forecasting book value for March 2015 of 137p a share.
| LONDONMETRIC PROPERTY (LMP) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 145.7p | MARKET VALUE: | £915m | |
| TOUCH: | 145.5-145.8p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 150p | LOW: 103p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 4.8% | TRADING PROPERTIES: | nil | |
| PREMIUM TO NAV: | 20% | |||
| INVESTMENT PROP: | £1.14bn† | NET DEBT: | 51%† | |
| Year to 31 Mar | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 120 | 105 | 24.8 | 4.4 |
| 2011 | 123 | 57 | 8.3 | 6.3 |
| 2012 | 116 | 5 | 0.5 | 7 |
| 2013 | 108 | -9 | -2.4 | 7 |
| 2014 | 121 | 127 | 20.0 | 7 |
| % change | +12 | - | - | - |
Ex-div: 11 Jun Payment: 21 Jul †Includes joint ventures | ||||
