LondonMetric Property has announced results for the year ended 31 March 2015 and separately has announced it is buying a portfolio of M&S convenience stores for £26m.
Over the year to the end of March 2015, LondonMetric Property’s EPRA net asset value rose by 16% to 140.6p. The dividend is being maintained at 7p but they are also paying a special dividend of 2p. EPRA earnings per share rose by 57% to 6.6p.
They bought 20 properties for a total of £308.9m at an average net initial yield of 6.2% and sold £289m worth at an average net initial yield of 5.2%. Like-for-like rents grew by 2.9% and occupancy was 99.7%. The deals they did in the year pushed the weighted average unexpired lease life up to 13.1 years from 12.7 years.
Their development programme now totals 3.1m sq ft. This includes two developments at Islip and Warrington that should conclude within the next few months and two schemes at Bedford and Stoke. All of these fall within the distribution sector as they up their exposure to this area at the expense of retail and offices (following the sale of One Carter Lane, they have no London office exposure).
The loan to value ratio was 36% at the year end. Undrawn facilities currently total £154.5m, debt maturity has increased to 6.2 years and average cost of debt has fallen to 3.4%.
In partnership with Marks & Spencer they have assembled a portfolio of five M&S Simply Food stores for £26m to add to their convenience retail portfolio. LMP has simultaneously re-geared the leases on four of the properties to new 20 year leases, and the fifth property will consist of two units let to M&S for 15 years and to Aldi for 20 years. The five properties have a WAULT of 19.2 years and an overall rental income of £1.5m pa, subject to contractual uplifts. The purpose built foodstores are situated across various locations in England including the Isle of Wight, Liverpool and Ferndown, and the average property size is 16,400 sq ft. These acquisitions are in addition to a recent letting of 11,300 sq ft to M&S for 20 years at the Company’s retail park in Tonbridge. The average yield on cost for all of the M&S transactions is 6.3%. Following these acquisitions, LondonMetric’s convenience retail portfolio will increase to £49.7m, comprising ten properties let to retailers including Aldi, Boots, Iceland and M&S, with a WAULT of 15.9 years and with 63% of income subject to fixed uplift or RPI increases.
LMP : LondonMetric ups exposure to M&S