St Modwen Properties (SMP) made further progress in 2018 towards focusing on urban logistics and housebuilding, and reducing its exposure to the retail sector.
Disposals generated £529m, with assets sold much in line with book value, which means that in the past 18 months it has disposed of 40 per cent of its initial portfolio. In that time, industrial and logistics assets have grown to around a third of the portfolio, up from 19 per cent, while non-core retail assets make up just 6 per cent of the total portfolio.
As well as investing in its pipeline, funds have been used to reduce debt, so that the loan to value ratio has dropped from 24.2 per cent to 16.9 per cent. The committed pipeline grew by half in 2018 to 1.5m square feet, 87 per cent of which will be retained, with an estimated rental value of £9.2m, 19 per cent of which is already let or under offer. St Modwen Homes grew output by 22 per cent to 848 units sold, while 49 acres of land were sold to third-party housebuilders for £53m.
Analysts at Peel Hunt are forecasting adjusted net asset value (NAV) at the November 2019 year-end of 505p (from 474p in 2018).
| ST MODWEN PROPERTIES (SMP) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 404.4p | MARKET VALUE: | £899m | |
| TOUCH: | 402.4-404.6p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 431p | LOW: 358p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.8% | TRADING PROPERTIES: | nil | |
| DISCOUNT TO NAV: | 14% | NET DEBT: | 26% | |
| INVESTMENT PROPERTIES: | £1.03bn* | |||
| Year to 30 Nov | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2014 | 325 | 132 | 53.8 | 4.6 |
| 2015 | 414 | 235 | 97.9 | 5.75 |
| 2016 | 431 | 67.0 | 24.1 | 6 |
| 2017 | 451 | 70.3 | 26.9 | 6.28 |
| 2018 | 470 | 72.4 | 27.1 | 7.1 |
| % change | +4 | +3 | +1 | +13 |
| Ex-div: | 7 Mar | |||
| Payment: | 4 Apr | |||
| *Includes joint ventures | ||||
