Warehouse REIT has reported an increase in EPRA net asset value per share of 3.5% during the six months to 30 September.
NAV per share was 105.7p at 30 September, climbing from 102.1p at the end of March. Rental income also grew during the same period, to £10.7m from £6.6m.
During the period it completed 37 new lettings of vacant space, generating additional annual rent of £1.2m.
The value of its portfolio dipped by 2.3% to £284.3m during the timeframe. The REIT said this followed £15m of disposals during the period, reflecting an increase of 6.5% on the aggregate purchase price.
The landlord declared a second interim dividend of 1.5p per share. Total dividends tallied 3p for the six months, putting it on track to pay a dividend for the full year through March of 6p per share.
Neil Kirton, chairman of Warehouse REIT, said: “This was a strong period for the group, as we maintained our focus on both knowing our tenants and understanding their needs. We continued to demonstrate our ability to extract value from the portfolio.
The group has undertaken substantial asset management activity in the period, including numerous renewals and relettings at rental levels ahead of ERV. This in turn supports the group’s robust and growing income stream, which allows us to pay attractive and growing dividends to shareholders.
“There continues to be significant reversionary potential in the portfolio and we look forward to reporting further value creation in the second half of the year. We remain ambitious to grow and continue to both source and attract deal flow within the asset class.”
Andrew Bird, managing director of investment manager Tilstone Partners, added: “The market remains attractive and we continue to see substantial tenant demand for good-quality, well-located urban warehouse assets.
“Vacancy levels across the market are low and the supply of new assets remains constrained, with replacement costs being higher than capital values.
“Coupled with the continued growth in e-commerce, these market conditions are feeding through into rental growth. We therefore expect the group to make further progress over the remainder of the year.”
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