14th May 2015 12:18
LONDON (Alliance News) - Hibernia REIT PLC Thursday said its first full year marked a period of intense activity in Ireland's recovering property market, as the real estate investment trust invested EUR445 million and committed EUR43 million to 14 transactions.
The trust said it invested and committed a further EUR3 million following the end of its last financial year.
After investing the proceeds of its December 2013 initial public offering, the company agreed a EUR100 million three-year revolving credit facility in August 2014 with Bank of Ireland and raised net proceeds of EUR286 million in a second issue of equity in November that year.
It had net cash of EUR139 million at the end of March 31, 2015 and undrawn credit facilities of EUR100 million after deploying EUR147 million of its resources.
In a statement, the real estate investment trust said its net asset value based on International Financial Reporting Standards was 112.4 cents at the end of March and an estimated 111.6c after issuing performance shares, while NAV on a European Public Real Estate Association basis was 111.8c per share.
That was a 16.6% increase in IFRS NAV and a 16.0% increase in EPRA NAV from a year earlier, with the company citing an uplift in the value of its property portfolio since acquisition of 19.5% excluding acquisition costs and 15.6% including acquisition costs.
The company is managed by WK Nowlan REIT Management Ltd and is preparing to internalise the management team of 16 after proposing the move earlier this month. Independent shareholder approval is required.
"With Dublin at the centre of a broad-based recovery in the Irish economy and foreign direct investment flows continuing, the board is confident that conditions in the company's core markets will continue to strengthen in the coming year," Chairman Daniel Kitchen said in a statement.
"The high volume of transactions in the Irish property market is anticipated to persist as the market normalises and the board expects continued success in deploying the company's capital in building out its property portfolio. Additionally the board is confident that the proactive management of the company's assets and the development of the sites it acquired will deliver excellent returns," Kitchen said.
Hibernia REIT is paying a dividend of 0.8c for the year.
Shares in the company were up 1% at EUR1.26 on Thursday.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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