6th Apr 2020 11:03
(Alliance News) - Grainger PLC on Monday said it has delivered resilient performance in the first half of its current financial year and has a strong financial position going forward.
The private rental housing provider said it is well capitalised, with good liquidity and a strong balance sheet.
For the six months to the end of March, Grainger said its sales remained "robust", with occupancy levels at over 97% and rent collection rate at 95%.
During the period, Grainger said it saw rental growth of 3.4%, demonstrating continued demand and the resilience of its net rental income stream. On a like-for-like basis rent grew by 3.0% year-on-year.
Looking ahead, the company said it expects its leasing activity to slow due to coronavirus disruption, also noting that churn in existing customers is also likely to slow as people defer moves.
Thus Grainger said it expects to record lower rental growth in the second half, falling below 3%, due to lower turnover, with renewals a greater proportion than new lets as people defer moves.
The company said it has a sales pipeline of GBP26.2 million in solicitors' hands versus GBP19.6 million a year prior. Grainger said it does not expect to see any disruption due to the current situation.
In addition, Grainger said it has a further GBP7.3 million of ex-regulated tenancy properties which are vacant with the potential for sale or for re-letting at open market rents in the short term during this period of market disruption.
Finally, the company reported GBP198 million of cash available and GBP329 million of available committed undrawn facilities.
Grainger will report its half-year results on May 14.
The stock was trading 2.6% higher in London on Monday at 247.80 pence a share.
By Evelina Grecenko; [email protected]
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