LondonMetric (LMP) is capitalising on the acceleration in e-commerce wrought by the pandemic, which has pushed up demand for ‘last mile’ delivery space. The warehouse landlord has deployed £15m of the £120m raised via its May share placing and is in discussions over a further £80m in urban and regional logistics and ‘long-income’ assets. Competition for urban logistics assets remains high, said chief executive Andrew Jones. "Urban logistics is everyone's flavour of the month so it's not easy," he said. However, more sale and leaseback sites have become available, driven by occupiers' need to raise funds, he added.
Since the end of March, the group has agreed four distribution lettings at an average 42 per cent above passing rent. Regional and urban logistics assets now account for 55 per cent of the portfolio by value following the acquisition of A&J Mucklow last year. In turn, the group disposed of £114m in big-box distribution assets, reducing its portfolio weighting to 15 per cent from 23 per cent, in response to slowing rental growth.
Acquisitions boosted net rental income by almost a quarter, although rent reviews and regears resulted in 3.8 per cent underlying growth. However, it was not immune from the decline in sentiment towards commercial property, with the portfolio incurring a revaluation deficit of £12m.
Panmure Gordon forecasts adjusted net asset value of 181p a share at the March 2021 financial year-end, rising to 186p the same time the following year.
| LONDONMETRIC PROPERTY (LMP) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 216p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.96bn | |
| TOUCH: | 215-216p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 245p | LOW: 133p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.8% | TRADING PROPERTIES: | £1.1m | |
| PREMIUM TO NAV: | 26% | NET DEBT: | 59% | |
| INVESTMENT PROPERTIES: | £2.27bn | |||
| Year to 31 Mar | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p)* |
| 2016 | 144 | 82.7 | 13.2 | 7.25 |
| 2017 | 146 | 63.0 | 10.1 | 7.5 |
| 2018 | 166 | 186 | 26.9 | 7.9 |
| 2019 | 175 | 120 | 17.2 | 8.2 |
| 2020 | 171 | -6.7 | -0.7 | 8.3 |
| % change | -2 | - | - | +1 |
| Ex-div: | 18 Jun | |||
| Payment: | 22 Jul | |||
| *Dividends paid quarterly, XD and payment dates refer to fourth-quarter dividend of 2.3p a share | ||||
