Custodian REIT (CREI) has announced the sale of four retail properties at auction. The properties are located in Chester, Scarborough, Bedford and Llandudno, and were all originally acquired within larger portfolios in 2014 and 2015. They have been sold for an aggregate sale price £1.6m, which CREI says is in line with the properties’ most recent valuations. These sales have reduced CREI’s weighting to the high street retail sector from 11% to 10%.
With regards to the individual properties, CREI says that the Chester unit is currently vacant, the Scarborough and Bedford units are let on three-month rolling leases at below market rents and the Llandudno unit is significantly over-rented with expiry due in May 2022.
Comments from Richard Shepherd-Cross, Managing Director of Custodian Capital Limited
“These assets were not aligned with the strategy of the Company as we did not anticipate future rental growth. We have already invested the sale proceeds in higher quality assets with greater prospects for income and capital growth, better supporting the Board’s objective of increasing dividends in a sustainable way.”
About Custodian REIT
Custodian REIT is a UK real estate investment trust, which listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange on 26 March 2014. It says that its portfolio comprises properties predominantly let to institutional grade tenants on long leases throughout the UK and is characterised by small lot sizes, with individual property values of less than £10 million at acquisition.
The Company describes itself as offering investors the opportunity to access a diversified portfolio of UK commercial real estate through a closed-ended fund. It says that, by targeting smaller lot size properties, it seeks to provide investors with an attractive level of income with the potential for capital growth.
Custodian Capital Limited is the discretionary investment manager of the Company.