In QuotedData’s morning briefing 29 February 2024:
- NextEnergy Solar Fund (NESF) has provided a quarterly NAV and operational update for the three months ending 31 December 2023. As of the year end, its NAV per share was 107.7p, equal to a total NAV of £636.4m. This represented a fall in NAV over the three months, with NESF reporting a total NAV of £640m as of 30 September. Total gearing fell from 46.4% to 45.7%. NESF is on track to achieve its target dividend of 8.35p per share, with 6.26p already declared for its financial year, with the trust forecasting a dividend cover of 1.3x.
- Following the merger of JPMorgan Mid Cap Investment Trust and JPMorgan UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust, JPMorgan UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust has changed its name to JPMorgan UK Small Cap Growth & Income Growth & Income. Its ticker will now be JUGI.
- LXi REIT (LXI) has completed the sale of 66 Travelodge branded hotels to the Travelodge group for £210m.
- Sirius Real Estate (SRE) has acquired a business park in Klipphausen, near Dresden, Germany together with an adjacent land parcel for €13.75m (£11.73m). The acquisition was made using the proceeds of November 2023’s €165m (£147m) capital raise. It represents the third asset to be acquired by Sirius in Germany this calendar year, and the sixth asset to be acquired across both Germany and the UK in recent months. The site has been acquired from a corporate owner occupier who plans to vacate the building, which is expected to be six months after completion. Sirius’ plan is to convert the site, which currently comprises approximately 17,700 sqm of modern primarily light industrial and production space, into a multi-tenanted business park. Sirius’ asset management platform has identified multiple parties interested in leasing space at the site, which in aggregate is already in excess of the site’s entire leasable area. The plan is also to expand the park through the development of the adjacent 10,000 sqm land parcel which forms part of the acquisition. Sirius has granted the vendor a six-month lease, which can be extended by two months at their option, in return for a rent of €200,000 per month.