Primary Health Properties (PHP) ticked all the right boxes at the interim stage, pushing net rental income ahead by 8.1 per cent and enjoying a near doubling in the portfolio valuation uplift to £29.9m. These two factors helped to push adjusted net asset value per share up by 5.5 per cent to 96.1p.
Four assets costing £18.6m were acquired in the first half including one in Ireland, and are expected to add £1.1m to the contracted rent roll. Developments completed included a 2,454 sq m facility at Swindon, fully let to the NHS on a 20-year lease, and serving over 20,000 patients. And in July, three further properties were acquired for £35.5m, increasing the contracted rent roll by another £1.7m to £71m.
A total of 107 rent reviews were completed resulting in a £0.4m rise, which equates to an annual uplift of 1.6 per cent. This was up significantly from the 0.9 per cent achieved a year earlier. Three-quarters of rent reviews are on an open market basis, which means that significant growth can be expected once district valuers take into account increased land and construction cost inflation when setting rent levels.
Analysts at Peel Hunt are forecasting adjusted net asset value at the December 2017 year-end of 98p a share, up from 91p a year earlier.
| PRIMARY HEALTH PROPERTIES (PHP) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 114.75p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 687m | |
| TOUCH: | 114.5-114.75p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 117p | LOW: 105 |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 4.5% | DEVELOPMENT PROPERTIES: | £4.2m | |
| PREMIUM TO NAV: | 30% | |||
| INVESTMENT PROPERTIES: | £1.26bn | NET DEBT: | 126% | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2016 | 82.5 | 25.5 | 4.9 | 2.5625 |
| 2017 | 88.6 | 44.3 | 7.4 | 2.62* |
| % change | +7 | +74 | +51 | +2 |
| Ex-div: | - | |||
| Payment: | - | |||
| *Dividends paid quarterly. 2nd interim paid on 26 May (ex-d: 6 Apr). 3rd dividend of 1.31p payable on 25 Aug (ex-d: 13 Jul) | ||||
