UK Land, who have used auctions extensively for selling residential properties in the past, are expanding — acquiring £26.9m of mainly commercial property in six transactions.
Best known as a trading company, UK Land started five years ago, tending to buy residential portfolios and split them up, selling the unwanted portions under the hammer.
But now the property company have had a slight change in direction and are holding on to their recent commercial purchases instead of turning round property quickly.
Director Graham Barclay said that the company no longer feel the need to sell on swiftly: “We will get our foot in any market we can. Although we are traders, we are an investment company too. We now have the safety net of income, which stands at £1m pa.”
However, UK Land have not turned their back on the auctions market — as many buyers and not a few auctioneers will be relieved to hear.
Mr Barclay comments: “The market is always going to need auctions — it is the one outlet needed for selling. We plan to keep most of our recent purchases, but the ones we don’t want to keep we will sell by auction.”
The portfolios in question have a total income of £3.3m with 54% within the London postal districts. Vendors included Town & City, British Land and Thorn EMI. Nelson Bakewell and Anthony Lipton & Co acted for UK Land.
Mr Barclay describes the recent spate of six commercial buys as “our third venture into secondary commercial investments — but we won’t say we won’t buy houses. There is a lot of opportunity in residential these days — yields are low.”
UK Land have shown spectacular growth since their setting up in 1982. Five years ago, their net rental income was £6,000 pa compared with £1.279m for 1986. Net dealing income has risen from nil in 1982 to £1.175m in 1986.
Earnings per share have risen from -0.1 in 1982 to 18.5p in 1986, while net assets per share have gone from nil to £1.90.
