Helical Bar 's (HLCL) veteran chief executive Michael Slade celebrated his last year at the helm - he becomes non-executive chairman after the annual meeting - with a record set of annual results. Rental levels, investment gains, pre-tax profits, shareholders' funds and adjusted net asset value (NAV) all stood at the highest level in the company's 32-year history as a real estate company.
Much of the strong performance reflected another bumper return from its London portfolio, with income boosted by the completion and letting of several office schemes. These helped to lift contracted gross rents to £23.6m, but if all rents were marked to market the estimated rental value (ERV) would be much higher at £45.4m. Incoming chief executive Gerald Kaye reckons that within three years the rent roll could nearly double to £81m.
The overall loan-to-value ratio edged up from 52 per cent to 55 per cent although, depending on opportunities that present themselves, the plan is to reduce this to 37 per cent by 2021.
Analysts at Peel Hunt are now forecasting adjusted NAV for the year ending March 2017 of 530p a share, up from 461p a year earlier.
| HELICAL BAR (HLCL) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 394p | MARKET VALUE: | £454m | |
| TOUCH: | 393-394p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 475p | LOW: 355p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.1% | TRADING PROPERTIES: | £92m | |
| DISCOUNT TO NAV: | 7% | NET DEBT: | 136% | |
| INVESTMENT PROPERTIES: | £1.07bn* | |||
| Year to 31 Mar | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 217 | 7.4 | 6.5 | 5.15 |
| 2013 | 217 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.55 |
| 2014 | 292 | 102 | 75.0 | 6.75 |
| 2015 | 353 | 87 | 64.6 | 7.25 |
| 2016 | 425 | 120 | 96.1 | 8.17 |
| % change | +20 | +37 | +49 | +13 |
Ex-div: tba Payment: 29 Jul *Includes joint ventures | ||||
