Town Centre Securities (TOWN) could not avoid the headwinds affecting the retail sector, but the Leeds-based property investor worked towards reducing its exposure to retail and leisure in the six months to December 2018, with that part of the portfolio down from 70 per cent two years ago to 52 per cent.
Headline profits were wiped out by an £11.2m portfolio devaluation, but net revenue was up nearly 2 per cent at £10m. Rental income would have been 2.5 per cent higher had it not been for income lost through eight company voluntary arrangements. However, six of these have already been re-let at average rents ahead of previous levels. The remaining two account for just 0.5 per cent of the rent roll.
In the development pipeline – which currently has a gross development value of over £590m – a 91-unit private rented sector joint development is on track to complete in May this year, while a proposed apartment/hotel joint venture with Leeds City Council has consent to start development later this year.
Ahead of these numbers, analysts at Liberum were forecasting adjusted net asset value of 393.6p at the December 2019 year-end, from 384p in 2018.
| TOWN CENTRE SECURITIES (TOWN) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 208p | MARKET VALUE: | £111m | |
| TOUCH: | 208-216p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 296p | LOW: 206p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 5.6% | DEVELOPMENT PROP: | nil | |
| DISCOUNT TO NAV: | 42% | |||
| INVESTMENT PROP: | £341m* | NET DEBT: | 97% | |
| Half-year to 31 Dec | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2017 | 375 | 12.4 | 23.4 | 3.25 |
| 2018 | 361 | -8.7 | -16.4 | 3.25 |
| % change | -4 | - | - | - |
| Ex-div: | 23 May | |||
| Payment: | 21 Jun | |||
| *Includes joint ventures | ||||
