Tritax Big Box (BBOX) is in the right business at the right time as big shopping chains adapt to a change in consumer habits. Buying online and click and collect mean that distribution warehouses are in strong demand, and last year Tritax acquired 11 'big boxes' to take its total to 25. Crucially, three-quarters of the portfolio has been created through off-market deals, thus avoiding the cost of entering competitive bids.
These acquisitions, together with a valuation uplift of £107m, meant that the value of the portfolio more than doubled to £1.31bn and the contracted rent roll jumped 89 per cent to £68.4m. Funding came from a new £500m debt facility and a £229m equity raise, but the loan-to-value ratio remained a modest 33 per cent.
Fund manager Colin Godfrey believes there is still room for further yield compression, but the main growth driver will be rental income, given the imbalance between supply and demand.
Prior to these numbers, analysts at Jefferies were forecasting net asset value of 134p a share at the December 2016 year-end.
| TRITAX BIG BOX REIT (BBOX) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 133.9p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.12bn | |
| TOUCH: | 133.8-133.9p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 134p | LOW: 110p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 4.5% | TRADING PROPERTIES: | nil | |
| PREMIUM TO NAV: | 8% | |||
| INVESTMENT PROP: | £1.16bn | NET DEBT: | 16% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 98 | - | - | - |
| 2014* | 107 | 42 | 15.1 | 4.15 |
| 2015 | 124 | 134 | 21.6 | 6 |
| % change | +16 | +220 | +43 | +45 |
Ex-div: ** Payment: ** *For the period 1 Nov 2013 to 31 Dec 2014 **Fourth interim dividend of 3p a share was paid on 9 Mar | ||||
