Tritax Big Box has posted rises in net asset value and profit, but chairman Richard Jewson said it would “maintain a cautious approach” as the UK faces an economic downturn.
The logistics investor reported a 2% uptick in its EPRA NAV per share, rising to 154.85p at 30 June.
During the six-month period operating profit rose by 24.7% to £70.6m and its portfolio value ticked up by 6.1% to £4,18bn.
Tritax said earnings were in line with expectations, reflecting a 4.4% drop driven by increased average share count. It expects H2 growth to be fuelled by increased income from developments, offset by disposals.
It has several disposals in the final stages and said it is ready to deploy capital on its pipeline of investment and development opportunities.
The REIT’s contracted annual rent roll was up by 7.4% to £178.9m. It has collected 97% of Q2 2020 rent and 99% of Q3 2020 rents.
During the period it completed a prelet with Amazon for a 20-year lease on 2.3 sq ft at Europe’s largest logistics facility, at Littlebrook in Kent. Post-period it also secured Butternut Box to take 151,388 sq ft at Symmetry Park in Doncaster (pictured) on a 15-year year lease.
Chairman Richard Jewson said it was appropriate to “maintain a cautious approach in the long-term interest of shareholders”. It will pay a dividend of 3.125p per share, against 3.425p per share a year earlier.
Jewson said: “The long-term impacts of Covid-19 are only just beginning to be felt and we believe it is right to ensure the business has the financial headroom to ride out a potentially protracted period of economic weakness.
“With high-quality assets, a strong balance sheet and gathering momentum in our development pipeline we believe the company is well placed to take advantage of the strength of the UK logistics real estate market.”
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