As a landlord in the heart of London’s West End, Shaftesbury (SHB) is largely immune to the daily twists and turns associated with Brexit. And while a fall in headline profits for the year to September 2018 reflected a smaller valuation uplift in the portfolio, net property income rose 6.2 per cent to £93.8m.
There is also plenty of reversionary potential yet to be crystallised, with estimated rental values, when marked to market, up 2.4 per cent at £154m. Of the £32.5m reversionary potential, £11.8m relates to refurbishment schemes already in progress.
Acquisitions totalled £167.8m, while £25.3m was spent on redevelopment and refurbishment schemes on 177,200 square feet of space – just under 10 per cent of the portfolio. There is still £343.5m of cash and available debt resources, of which £92.7m is already earmarked for investment, while a combination of lower debt and the valuation uplift helped to reduce the loan-to-value ratio from 26.7 per cent to 22.8 per cent.
The average period to let space increased by four weeks to 2.5 months as potential occupiers, when considering fit-out costs and rental commitments, were becoming a little more cautious.
Analysts at Peel Hunt are forecasting adjusted net asset value (NAV) at the September 2019 year-end of 1,002.7p a share, up from 986p in 2018.
| SHAFTESBURY (SHB) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 917.5p | MARKET VALUE: | £2.82bn | |
| TOUCH: | 917.5-918p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 1,055p | LOW: 865p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.8% | TRADING STOCK: | nil | |
| DISCOUNT TO NAV: | 7% | |||
| INVEST PROPERTIES: | £3.86bn* | NET DEBT: | 28% | |
| Year to 30 Sep | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2014 | 681 | 447 | 165 | 13.1 |
| 2015 | 836 | 467 | 168 | 13.75 |
| 2016 | 857 | 99 | 36 | 14.7 |
| 2017 | 949 | 302 | 108 | 16 |
| 2018 | 987 | 176 | 58 | 16.8 |
| % change | +4 | -42 | -46 | +5 |
| Ex-div | 17 Jan | |||
| Payment: | 15 Feb | |||
| *Including joint ventures | ||||
