NewRiver REIT has reported a 25% bump in income in annual results following the acquisition of Capital & Regional’s portfolio.
The retail landlord said underlying funds from operations (UFFO) were £30.5m (8.1p per share) compared to £24.4m in 2024. The acquisition of Capital & Regional in December 2024 (for £151m) saw UFFO in the second half of the year of 4.4p compared to 3.7p in the first half.
The company paid a final dividend of 3.5p vs a 3.0p interim dividend, with the full year dividend 125% covered by UFFO.
Portfolio valuation increased to £897m from £540m in September 2024 due to the Capital & Regional acquisition and a 0.6% increase in capital values.
EPRA net tangible assets (NTA) was 102p, in-line with post Capital & Regional acquisition proforma and reduced from 106p at 30 September 2024 due to transaction costs.
LTV increased to 42.3% at 31 March 2025 vs 30.8% at 31 March 2024, due to the increased debt taken on in the Capital & Regional deal.
The cost of debt remained the same at 3.5%, but interest cover ratio reduced to 6.0x vs 6.5x at 31 March 2024 and net debt to EBITDA increased to 5.4x vs 4.8x. Fitch Ratings reaffirmed NewRiver’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘BBB’ with a Stable Outlook, senior unsecured rating (relating to £300m unsecured 2028 bond) at ‘BBB+’ and Short-Term IDR at ‘F2’.
Sale of Abbey Centre
The company announced today the sale of the Abbey Centre in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, for £58.8m, in-line with the March 2025 valuation.
The sale sees proforma LTV reduce to 38%, back within its LTV guidance of <40% and giving it capacity to redeploy some proceeds into accretive opportunities.
Allan Lockhart, chief executive, commented:
“It has been a successful and transformative year for NewRiver, the highlight of which was the highly earnings accretive acquisition of Capital & Regional. Whilst M&A activity was our primary focus in the year, this did not detract from our operational performance, and we have delivered another year of excellent leasing both in terms of pricing and volume, as well as earnings growth from Capital Partnerships.
“The benefits of the Capital & Regional acquisition are already flowing through and our long-term aim is to deliver consistent market leading earnings growth beyond those benefits. We are confident of achieving this given the range of growth drivers that we have at our disposal underpinned by a market place that is in the best position it has been in for several years.”
