LondonMetric has delivered a 4% uplift in EPRA NAV to 155.7p a share and reported profit of £79.6m, driven by £52.8m revaluation surplus in the six months to the end of September.
The investor reported that its focus on sectors that will generate high-quality, sustainable income growth from structural changes and management actions is “delivering outperformance”.
Its portfolio has also been valued at £1.7bn, with a topped up net initial yield of 5.2%.
At the end of the period almost 70% of its portfolio was allocated to the distribution sector with the balance mainly invested in long income and convenience retail.
During the period it acquired £171m of distribution assets at a 6% yield, as well as a regional distribution sale of £49m at a 5% yield.
It now owns 40 urban logistics assets, which represents more than 25% of its end-to-end logistics portfolio.
Disposals of non-distribution assets come to £131m, which included the sale of its last office property.
Chief executive Andrew Jones said: “Today, almost 70% of our portfolio is allocated to the distribution sector, with the balance mainly invested in long income and convenience retail; both areas that are benefitting from the changes taking place in consumer shopping habits.
“Our decision a number of years ago to pivot into these winning sectors was driven by the impact of technology on shoppers’ behaviour.
“We were early movers into both these sectors and this is reflected in our strong financial numbers.
“We have performed across every key financial measure, increasing our income, earnings, profits, dividend and NAV while maintaining our strong portfolio metrics.
“The desperate search for yield globally is continuing to drive investor demand for income-backed real estate. Our approach of patiently collecting and compounding our income remains front and centre of our strategy, and this is exactly what an REIT was designed to do.”
Separately, LondonMetric announced the acquisition of two logistics warehouses for £47.6m, reflecting a blended NIY of 5%, rising to a minimum of 5.6% after five years.
The average lease length of the properties is more than 18 years.
At Ollerton in Nottinghamshire, LondonMetric has agreed to acquire a 364,000 sq ft regional warehouse let to Clipper Logistics on a 20-year lease at a rent of £5 per sq ft, subject to annually payable RPI uplifts of 2-4%.
Founded in 1992 and listed in 2014, Clipper is amongst the UK’s leading providers of logistics solutions and e-fulfilment to the retail sector and employs nearly 4,000 people.
At Speke in Liverpool, it has acquired a new 132,000 sq ft regional logistics warehouse let to Gefco on a 15-year lease at a rent of £5.17 per sq ft subject to five-yearly RPI linked reviews of 2-4%.
Gefco is a global logistics company with an annual turnover of over €4bn (£3.5bn).
The unit is located nine miles from Liverpool city centre and close to J6 of the M62.
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