1st Mar 2016 09:20
LONDON (Alliance News) - Student accommodation investor Empiric Student Property PLC said Tuesday it was enjoying a strong financial performance, as it expanded its portfolio due to "limited competition", and proposed a share placing and subscription to raise funds to reach its growth target.
Empiric Student Property said the value of its portfolio was GBP361.7 as at December 31, up from GBP251.3 million the previous year, with its operating assets having a gross annual income of GBP25.1 million at the end of December, against GBP8.4 million at the end of 2014.
The investor said its pretax profit for the six-period to December was GBP14.0 million, at a slightly lower level than the GBP14.2 million for the prior six-month period to June 30. However, its revenue was up against this period, at GBP9.4 million from GBP8.3 million. It said the slight fall in its pretax profit was due to increased property expenses.
Empiric Student said the UK student accommodation market was becoming "increasingly vibrant", with demand growing following the removal of the cap on UK and EU students, but said it usually only faced "limited competition" for buildings that fit its core profile, which are "often too big for the regional developers, too small for larger institutional buyers, but ideal for Empiric".
Empiric Student said its net asset value per share as at December 31 was 105.4p, against 103.2p at June 30. It declared an interim dividend of 1.5 pence per share in respect of the three month period to December 31, meaning its total dividend for the six months will be 3.0 per share, as it declared a first dividend for the period earlier on in the year.
Empiric Student is targeting an annual dividend of 6p per share for the year ending June 30.
It said it is now on track to reach its target of 10,000 beds within five year of its initial public offering, which was in June 2014. Empiric Student added its operating portfolio is fully let for the 2015/16 academic year, and that bookings across the portfolio for the 2016/17 academic year are "ahead of expectations".
Empiric Student pointed to the launch of its Hello Student brand last month as a tool to broaden its reach and engage directly with students. Hello Student brings marketing, billing, booking and management under one platform.
Elsewhere, the company said it was launching a share issuance programme, which would take place over the next 12 months, and would be for the proposed issue of 165 million new shares, to allow it to achieve its objective of 10,000 beds across the UK by 2019.
Empiric Student said the initial tranche of its programme would be for a placing, open offer and offer for subscription at a discounted price of 107.5p per share to raise GBP90.0 million.
Shares in Empiric Student were down 1.2% at 109.38p on Tuesday morning.
By Hannah Boland; [email protected]; @Hannaheboland
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