Urban&Civic (UANC) raised completions guidance for 2020 to 1,200 units – from the 950 previously expected – after selling additional parcels of land to housebuilders including Bellway (BLY) and Crest Nicholson (CRST) at sites in the south-east over the year. The master developer completed 665 units, 5 per cent ahead of the number guided to last November. While completions revenue was up by 3 per cent, management said this was due to a greater number of smaller houses being built.
A greater number of plot sales meant the large site discount – calculated by applying a wholesale discount to the open-market value of its standard residential land – constituted a smaller proportion of the group’s adjusted net asset value (NAV), although it still represented 135p a share (from 145p in FY2018).
Operational highlights included securing its largest planning consent to date at Waterbeach, three miles north of Cambridge, for 6,500 homes and associated infrastructure. That took the number of consented or allocated plots the group has interests in to 32,000.
Broker Stifel forecasts adjusted NAV of 391p at the September 2020 year-end, up from 360p in FY2019.
| URBAN AND CIVIC (UANC) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 333p | MARKET VALUE: | £483m | |
| TOUCH: | 331-333p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 341p | LOW: 257p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.2% | TRADING PROPERTIES: | £307m | |
| PREMIUM TO NAV: | 21% | NET DEBT: | 26% | |
| INVESTMENT PROPERTIES: | £174m* | |||
| Year to 30 Sep | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2015 | 241 | 7.0 | 5.0 | 2.65 |
| 2016 | 254 | 25.9 | 14.6 | 2.9 |
| 2017 | 258 | 7.92 | 4.8 | 3.2 |
| 2018 | 268 | 22.3 | 13.0 | 3.5 |
| 2019 | 275 | 16.3 | 8.8 | 3.9 |
| % change | +3 | -27 | -32 | +11 |
| Ex-div: | 9 Jan | |||
| Payment: | 21 Feb | |||
| *Includes investments in joint ventures | ||||
