Primary care infrastructure specialist MedicX Fund (MXF) saw higher rental income and a valuation uplift of more than double the previous year helped to push adjusted net asset value (NAV) up 8 per cent to 70.8p per share.
Strong competition in a limited UK market prompted MedicX to look further afield, with the first investment of €10.1m (£7.3m) made in the Republic of Ireland. A further three schemes are in the pipeline, and Mike Adams, chief executive of Octopus Healthcare Adviser and investment adviser to the company, pointed out that MedicX is picking up assets on an initial yield of around 7 per cent compared with nearer 5 per cent in the UK.
The group has now built up a portfolio of 148 healthcare centres, and spent £41.2m during the year on acquisitions. This helped to boost rental income by nearly 17 per cent to £32.8m. More than a fifth of the annualised rent roll is linked to the retail price index, and these rents were increased by 2.6 per cent. However, close to three-quarters of leases are subject to open market reviews, where a limited supply of new property schemes has held back rent reviews made by district valuers, and open market rents were up just 0.9 per cent.
Analysts at investment bank Sanlam are forecasting adjusted NAV of 71.6p at the September 2016 year-end.
| MEDICX FUND (MXF) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 84.25p | MARKET VALUE: | £308m | |
| TOUCH: | 84-84.25p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 87p | LOW: 77p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 7.0% | TRADING PROPERTIES: | nil | |
| PREMIUM TO NAV: | 21% | |||
| INVESTMENT PROP: | £553m | NET DEBT: | 111% | |
| Year to 30 Sep | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p*) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 65.8 | 6.7 | 4.3 | 5.5 |
| 2012 | 63.5 | 2.6 | 1.1 | 5.6 |
| 2013 | 62.2 | 9.7 | 3.6 | 5.7 |
| 2014 | 65.1 | 20.4 | 5.9 | 5.8 |
| 2015 | 69.6 | 39.1 | 9.9 | 5.9 |
| % change | +7 | +91 | +68 | +2 |
Ex-div: 19 Nov Payment: 31 Dec *Dividends of 1.475p paid quarterly £1=€1.38 | ||||
