LondonMetric Property (LMP) issues a half-year trading statement saying it expects to report a 14% increase in net rental income to £219m for the six months to 30 September following its acquisitions of Highcroft Investments and Urban Logistics this year. A further reduction in the EPRA cost ratio to 7.7% is also anticipated as the company continues to target a figure below 7.5%. Co-founder and head of investment Valentine Beresford will retire at the end of the financial year in March and be replaced by Will Evers who joined Metric Property in 2010 and became joint head of investment last year.
Great Portland Estates (GPE) is upbeat about its progress in the three months to 30 September saying it secured £37.6m in new leasing deals, matching last year’s and achieving a rent rises of 7.5% ahead of 6.7% in the previous quarter and beating the valuers’ 7.1% estimate of the rental value increases. Separately, an investigation into a number of allegations from a whistleblower has concluded that historical bonuses were correctly calculated and allegations of unlawful conduct by the firm were not substantiated.
BioPharma Credit (BPCR), a £1bn lender to life science companies yielding 11%, has agreed to lend an initial $30m to the Austrian subsidiary of Valneva, a $1bn French speciality vaccine company. The advance will go alongside a $185m loan from BioPharma V, another fund run by its fund manager Pharmakon Advisors. This is the third time Pharmakon has lent to Valneva. Further tranches of up to $285m may be made by the two funds. The $30m loan will mature in October 2030 and charge 9% interest.
450 plc (450), a £13m AIM-listed acquisition vehicle backed by Marwyn Value Investors (MVI), has reached a non-binding agreement for the reverse takeover of Silvercloud Holdings, also backed by Marwyn, which owns a majority interest in Le Chameau Holdings, the Wellington boots maker that is a longstanding investment of the smaller companies investment trust.
Edinburgh (EDIN) investment trust manager Liontrust Asset Management (LIO) says although it is seeing greater interest in its strategies as institutional investors diversify from the US and towards active management, the acceleration has been slower than expected with the group seeing a net £1.2bn outflow from its open-ended funds with assets under management falling 2.7% to £22bn in the third quarter.
Schroder British Opportunities (SBO) makes its 12th private equity investment, backing CSL Group, a UK provider of critical Internet connectivity, through a fund managed by ECI Partners.
Baker Steel Resources Trust (BSRT) returned 2.9% last month with net assets of the mining fund rising to £118.5m and NAV per share of 111.3p at 30 September. This was driven by increases in the share prices of Silver X, Metals Exploration and Caledonia Mining as gold and silver soared 12% and 17%. Partly offsetting that uplift was a fall in the listed share price of Tungsten West Plc despite the tungsten price rising a further 18% during the month.
