Financial Highlights 2021

202120202019
Profit after tax£34m£22.5m£31m
Dividend cover134%105%122%
Net assets£528m£509m£499m
Earnings per share 6.2p4.1p5.7p
Total Shareholder Return0.0%3.6%10.1%
Property valuation£682m£665m£685m

Resilient financial performance

  • Profit after tax of £33.8 million, an increase of over 50% on the prior year results
  • Net assets of £528 million, or 97p per share, an increase of 3.7%
  • Earnings per share of 6.2p
  • Total return of 6.6%
  • Received 92% of rental income over the financial year, with a further 1% deferred
  • Combined reduction of 6% in property, operating and finance costs over the year
  • Total dividends paid of £15.0 million with dividend cover of 134%
  • Loan to value ratio reduced to 21% with significant headroom against loan covenants
  • New £50 million revolving credit facility completed

Outperforming property portfolio

  • Total property return of 7.3%, outperforming MSCI UK Quarterly Property Index of 1.2%
  • Outperformance against MSCI over one, three, five and ten years and since inception
  • Well positioned portfolio comprising Industrial 53%, Office 36%, Retail and Leisure 11%
  • Like-for-like valuation increase of 3.2%
  • Like-for-like increase in passing rent of 1.9%
  • Like-for-like estimated rental value increase of 1.1%
  • One retail asset disposal for £4.0 million, 30% ahead of March 2020 valuation

Improving occupancy through asset management

  • Increased occupancy to 91%
  • Occupier retention of 88%
  • 90 asset management transactions completed including:
    • 17 rent reviews, 7% ahead of ERV
    • 30 lease renewals or regears, 10% ahead of ERV
    • 25 lettings or agreements to lease, 3% ahead of ERV
  • £5 million invested into asset refurbishment & repositioning projects

Supporting our stakeholders

  • Provided assistance to over 90 occupiers during the Covid-19 pandemic
  • Increased dividends twice during the year, with payments almost back to pre-pandemic levels
  • Reduction in property running costs to assist our occupiers
  • Improvement in annual GRESB score achieving two Green star status
  • Pathway to net zero carbon to be in place by March 2022