Hansteen has reported a record year, with net asset value per share climbing by 9% to 111p and more to come, according to the management.
Total returns to shareholders increased by 17.3%, compared with 2014, to 17.6p per share, as the company outperformed FTSE real estate shares by 5% over the year.
Pretax profits were up by a record amount to £171.4m, with £153.8m of that coming from an 11.1% increase in the portfolio valuation.
Recurring profits and income were however 2% down to £47.2m on the year before as currency fluctuations bit into revenues from the company’s German and Benelux holdings.
Debt in the company increased from £416m in 2014 to just over £475m by the end of December 2015.
Current vacancy rates in the portfolio are around 12% but the company increased occupancy in 2015 by about 25% of the vacant area, or 148,404 sq ft.
Despite a slowdown caused by the upcoming Brexit referendum and low inflation and interest rates in Europe, Hansteen expects another strong year in 2016. Industrials, the management said, will largely escape another turn in the cycle, and demand from unusual sources, such as the German government, will see the multi-let shed market increasingly squeezed.
The company believes this will lead to further income growth and a subsequent rise in capital values across its portfolio in the coming year, led by UK assets.
The founders of the company, Ian Watson and Morgan Jones, have now received their pre-existing long term incentive plan in full and have increased their shareholding in the company to more than double that previously held at around 18m shares.
A new incentive programme is expected to start soon.
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