With property assets up by more than a third at £104m, West Midlands-based Real Estate Investors (RLE) ticked all the right boxes last year. Record profits justified a substantial hike in the dividend, and following the group's conversion into a real estate investment trust (Reit) payments will be made on a quarterly basis starting next year.
Evidence of the growing demand for quality assets in and around Birmingham came from a £6.8m revaluation surplus on the portfolio. But the group also made effective use of a £20m capital raising exercise last March, investing nearly £30m in new assets. Despite property disposals of £7m, contracted rental income was up by a third at £7.7m.
The group now owns nearly 800,000 sq ft of space, up by nearly a quarter, while rising capital values and the fundraising helped trim the loan-to-value ratio from 47.3 per cent to 35.2 per cent. New tenants in the portfolio included HSBC, WH Smith, Boots and Marks & Spencer, and overall occupancy grew from 83.6 per cent to 84.6 per cent.
Analysts at Liberum are forecasting year-end adjusted net asset value of 68.9p (from 61.3p in 2014).
| REAL ESTATE INVESTORS (RLE) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 63p | MARKET VALUE: | £70m | |
| TOUCH: | 61-65p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 67p | LOW: 49p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.4% | TRADING PROPERTIES: | nil | |
| PREMIUM TO NAV: | 9% | |||
| INVESTMENT PROPERTIES: | £102m | NET DEBT: | 57% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 6.5 | -5.6 | -1.0 | nil |
| 2011 | 54.6 | -6.7 | -8.6 | nil |
| 2012 | 54.6 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| 2013 | 58.6 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 1 |
| 2014 | 57.9 | 6.0 | 4.1 | 1.5 |
| % change | -1 | +21 | -20 | +50 |
Ex-div: 26 Mar Payment: 24 Apr | ||||
