FINANCE: CLS Holdings’ EPRA NAV per share grew by 11.3% to 1,412 pence during the six months to 30 June.
The property investment company saw the value of its portfolio grow by 4% to £1.16bn during the half-year. Pretax profit increased from £22.7m during the corresponding period last year to £62m.
Net cash inflow from operating activities rose 16% to £17.4m. The vacancy rate across the portfolio currently stands at 3.5%, compared with 4.4% in at the end of December.
The company has £153.7m of cash to deploy, plus £84.9m of undrawn debt.
CLS sold Cambridge House, Hammersmith, for £29.5m in April – 32% above a 2013 external valuation – and signed an agreement with the University of Roehampton to let its 210 student rooms at Spring Mews for 10 years. A total of 90% of CLS’s student accommodation is now let for the 2014/2015 academic year.
CLS has also signed a conditional agreement for a long lease to a student housing operator to build and manage a 359-bed building, with work likely to start on site in 2015.
The company’s Intercontinental Hotels Group franchise, the Staybridge Suite hotel, SE11, is due to open in Q4 2014, and will be completed in the third quarter.
New chief executive Frederik Widlund will join the company on 3 November.
Sten Mortstedt, executive chairman of CLS, said: “The outlook for the group remains attractive as our high level of occupancy and continued low cost of debt underpin our ability to generate cash. With strong operations, a solid balance sheet and a high level of liquid resources, we remain in a good position to benefit from the opportunities and challenges which lie ahead.”
sophia.furber@estatesgazette.com
