A revaluation gain of £18.3m helped to boost adjusted net asset value (NAV) by 4.1 per cent to 79.6p for GP landlord MedicX Fund (MXF) in the six months to March 2018. Demand for purpose-built primary healthcare centres remains as strong as ever, and the company has a £110m pipeline of investment opportunities, more than half of which is already in solicitors’ hands. And in order to help finance the £64m cost of acquiring 12 primary care centres, MedicX plans to issue up to 42.9m shares at a price equal to or in excess of the prevailing adjusted net asset per share.
Rental income rose by 5.4 per cent to £19.6m, but rental growth is being held back by the low number of new schemes against which to benchmark higher rents. Consequently, rent review uplifts continue to lag behind inflation.
Following its conversion to a real estate investment trust (Reit) in October 2017, MedicX will be paying a fully covered dividend from 2019 against the current 61.5 per cent cover. This implies a dividend cut although the consequent rise in cash flow should help to cover the cost of further investments.
Analysts at Peel Hunt are forecasting adjusted NAV at the September 2018 year-end of 77.1p per share against 76.5p in 2017.
| MEDICX FUND (MXF) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 76p | MARKET VALUE: | £328m | |
| TOUCH: | 75.6-76.4p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 93p | LOW: 76p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 7.9% | DEVELOPMENT PROPERTIES: | nil | |
| DISCOUNT TO NAV: | 3% | NET DEBT: | 106% | |
| INVESTMENT PROPERTIES: | £721m* | |||
| Half-year to 31 Mar | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2017 | 76.3 | 13.6 | 3.1 | 2.9875 |
| 2018 | 79.3 | 26.4 | 6.0 | 3.01 |
| % change | +4 | +94 | +94 | +1 |
| Ex-div: | 17 May | |||
| Payment: | 29 Jun | |||
| *Includes joint ventures. Dividends paid quarterly. XD and pay date refers to second quarter dividend of 1.51p per share | ||||
