A modest rise in rental income and a £14.1m valuation uplift helped to boost adjusted net asset value by 7.4 per cent to 506p a share for A&J Mucklow (MKLW) at the December 2017 half-year end.
Strong investor interest for properties in the Midlands and a lack of new supply helped to boost rents and also prompted Mucklow to sell its Bull Ring trading estate in Birmingham for £13m, more than double the June 2017 valuation of £5.4m. Contracts have also been exchanged on another industrial property called Camp Hill in Birmingham for £7m against a previous £5.3m valuation. Although there were no acquisitions made in the first half, the recent disposals suggest that there is significant value within the portfolio yet to be realised.
Vacancy rates rose from 4.2 per cent last June to 7.5 per cent mainly due to a lease expiry on 110,000 sq ft of warehouse space at Worcester, although the vacancy rate is expected to fall in the second half because half the vacant space is currently under offer. Work on the 44,250 sq ft industrial development in Wolverhampton is expected to complete in March this year, and has already been pre-let.
Analysts at Stifel are forecasting an adjusted net asset value of 505p a share at the June 2018 year-end, up from 471p a year earlier.
| A&J MUCKLOW (MKLW) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 500p | MARKET VALUE: | £317m | |
| TOUCH: | 490-514p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 525p | LOW: 465p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 4.5% | TRADING PROPERTIES: | £0.5m | |
| DISCOUNT TO NAV: | 1% | |||
| INVESTMENT PROPERTIES: | £395m | NET DEBT: | 23% | |
| Half-year to 31 Dec | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p)* |
| 2016 | 446 | 9.1 | 14.4 | 9.88 |
| 2017 | 504 | 29.9 | 47.4 | 10.18 |
| % change | +13 | +229 | +229 | +3 |
| Ex-div: | 15 Mar | |||
| Payment: | 16 Apr | |||
| *Dividends paid quarterly. XD and payment dates are for 1st quarter dividend of 5.09p. 2nd quarter dividend will be paid on 16 July with shares going XD on 14 June | ||||
