Workspace (WKP) followed last year's whopping 43 per cent increase in book value with a further 20 per cent rise at the half-year stage. Focused on providing office space for small- and medium-sized companies in London, the company saw the underlying value of its property portfolio swell 15 per cent to £1.23bn from the March year-end, thanks mainly to development projects.
Underlying net rental income rose 12 per cent to £27.1m, boosted by £1.4m from completed refurbishments and a 6 per cent rise in average rent per sq ft to £15.47. Headline profits included a £144m valuation uplift - well ahead of the £95m recorded a year earlier. Workspace has also been busy gaining planning consent for some of its better located sites and signing deals with housebuilders. Just last month it sold part of the Poplar Business Park to Telford Homes (TEF) for £16m, while retaining 8,000 sq ft of new industrial space at no extra cost.
The loan-to-value ratio fell from 31 per cent to 27 per cent, and is expected to fall further after the company announced a plan to raise £100m through a share placing. In the longer term, Workpace is also looking to raise £100m of debt to finance the development pipeline.
Analysts at broker Peel Hunt have revised their forecast for year-end adjusted book value up 11 per cent to 680p (from 496p in 2014).
| WORKSPACE (WKP) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 678p | MARKET VALUE: | £993m | |
| TOUCH: | 677-678p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 683p | LOW: 473p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.6% | DEVELOPMENT PROPERTIES: | nil | |
| PREMIUM TO NAV: | 11% | |||
| INVESTMENT PROPERTIES: | £1.2bn | NET DEBT: | 37% | |
| Half-year to 30 Sep | Net asset value(p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 408 | 108 | 70 | 3.54 |
| 2014 | 602 | 174 | 113 | 3.89 |
| % change | +48 | +61 | +61 | +10 |
Ex-div: 8 Jan Payment: 3 Feb | ||||
