Dunedin Income Growth (DIG) says it will introduce an enhanced dividend policy, using reserves to boost its dividend yield. The total dividend for the financial year ended 31 January 2026 will be at least 19.1p per share, 34.5% up on the prior year. That pushes it onto a notional 6% yield on NAV or, at the current share price, a dividend yield on price of 6.5%. The trust plans to use this as a base for a progressive dividend policy, growing the dividend in absolute terms each year. Dunedin Income Growth is already a next generation dividend hero.
NB Distressed Debt says it has sold its remaining surface transport asset in Brazil. The sale fetched $5.3m, well below the valuation in the NAV – the sale takes 17.5% or $5.08m off the ordinary (NBDD) share class NAV and 14.7% or $1.97m off the extended share class (NBDX). The statement says the reason for the disappointing price was multiple ongoing legal processes and a lack of clarity on the timing of resolution of these. The manager also had to unwind some hedging arrangements.
EPE Special Opportunities (ESO) saw an 8% fall in its NAV over the six months ended 31 July 2025, but the share price went up by 1%. Having refinanced its investment in Whittard (the tea company), it has £16.1m of cash on hand. The chairman says the manager has been busy safeguarding the companies in the portfolio from “challenging conditions”.
Life Science REIT (LABS) has renewed a lease with Thought Machine on a seven-year term as the sole occupier of its 68,600 sq ft Herbrand Street office in London. The deal was agreed at a headline rent of £75.00 per sq ft (in line with the ERV) and includes a 16.5 month rent free period.
Hammerson (HMSO) has appointed Rob Wilkinson as its new chief executive. He joins from AEW Europe, where he has served as the chief executive for over 11 years. He is currently a non-executive director at Derwent London (serving since 2024) and was previously on the board at Grainger (from 2015 to 2023). He will take over from Rita-Rose Gagné at the turn of the year.
Great Portland (GPE) has let 7,500 sq ft at Kent House, W1 to an AI company (Vanta). Vanta is GPE’s 10th AI tenant and they now account for 18.5% of its fully-managed portfolio.
Regional REIT (RGL) says that yields in the regional office markets have stabilised and the market has bottomed, as it reported half year results to 30 June 2025 in which the value of its portfolio fell 2.0% to £608.3m. The manager says it is buoyed by “a clear uptick in occupational demand in the regional office market”, which it expects to feed through to new lettings in 2026. The group made 20 new lettings during the period achieved at 4.2% above 2024 ERV, adding £1.4m to the rent roll. Progress on its disposal programme was slow, with just £7.8m transacted in the period and £93.2m of assets held for sale. The company declared dividends in the six months of 5.0p, fully covered by EPRA earnings of 5.2p per share.
Empiric Student Property (ESP) has published a scheme document (which can be read here) setting out the conditions of the recommended cash and share offer for the company by Unite Group (UTG). A court meeting and general meeting has been set for 10am on 6 October 2025 for shareholders to vote on the offer, which requires 75% support. In trading updates released by both companies today, ESP says that it expects occupancy to reach 97% for the new academic year, having grown from 77% (on 14 August) to 84% (at 7 September). Like-for-like rental growth was around 4% it added. UTG says that it also expects occupancy of at least 97%, with 94% currently occupied, and rental growth of between 4% and 5%.
HgCapital (HGT) is investing £17m into Payworks as part of a larger investment by Hg-managed vehicles. Payworks is described as a “Canadian leader in total workforce management”. the business is 25 years old and has 600 employees across Canada.
