26th Apr 2018 14:05
LONDON (Alliance News) - Investment firm Circle Property PLC said Thursday its portfolio has continued to grow in value and it also announced a new acquisition.
Circle said as of end-March an independent valuation of its portfolio gave a value of GBP114.0 million, 23% higher on a year before and 54% more than when it listed in February.
For its year to March, annual contracted rents rose 21% to GBP6.8 million. Of this, half is from the leasing of refurbished space in its redeveloped pipeline, 21% from lease renewals in the core portfolio, and the rest from its new acquisition.
Occupancy stands high at 99%, Circle said, and estimated rental values over its financial year rose 12% to GBP9.9 million.
The acquired asset is 710 & 720 Aztec West Business Park in Bristol. It was purchased for GBP4.2 million, and the price represents an initial net yield of 7.9%. With 13,258 square feet, it is fully let and has a total passing rent of GBP351,573 a year.
The deal, Circle said, was funded by a GBP5.0 million extension to its GBP50.0 million loan facility with Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC.
Chief Executive John Arnold said: "2017 was another strong year for Circle. We continue to see strong demand for high quality office space in our key markets. Supply continues to diminish as more offices convert to residential. Indeed, in Bristol the office supply has shrunk by 17% over the last year.
"There is a clear opportunity to achieve further gains by capturing rental reversion as we lease up the vacant space in our redevelopment pipeline and through reviews and renewals across the under-rented elements of the portfolio."
He added: "The recent acquisition at Aztec West provides us with another high quality asset from which we believe we can create additional value. We continue to see a strong pipeline of opportunities that we are keen to progress."
Circle shares were untraded on Thursday at 156.00 pence each.
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