Blackrock was born out of the de-merger of fruit company Fyffes' property interests and started trading on Dublin's IEX and London's Aim markets in May 2006. Its initial portfolio was valued at E197m. However, by end-December, the portfolio's value had risen 87 per cent to E369m as a result of E153m-worth of investment and E18m of revaluations. Net assets rose 6.8 per cent to E220.9m, or 37.88c a share.Yet the shares still trade at a premium to NAV - house broker Davy puts this down to the fact that achievable prices for Blackrock's property assets are well ahead of current valuations.
Chairman Carl McCann says the plan is to invest a further E200m during 2007-08 and, ultimately, to take Blackrock's property assets to E1bn. Blackrock made its first foray into continental Europe in 2006, with the acquisition of a majority stake in a Belgian property company and the purchase of Dutch office buildings. Mr McCann says he will be looking to invest more in continental Europe in future as it's easier to find value there than in the UK or Ireland.
| Ord price: 38p | Market value: £222m |
|---|---|
| Touch: 37-39p | 12 month High: 39p Low: 23p |
| Premium to NAV: 50% | Investment props: E356m |
| Trading props: nil | Net debt: 54% |
£1=E1.494
| Year to | Net asset | Pre-tax | Earnings | Dividend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 Dec | value (c) | profit (Em) | per share (c) | per share (p) |
| 2006* | 37.9 | 19.1 | 2.40 | nil |
| % change | - | - | - | - |
