20th May 2019 11:01
LONDON (Alliance News) - LXi REIT PLC said Monday it saw a strong performance in its recently ended financial year, leading to an increased dividend target for the current year.
In addition, the long income real estate investment trust proposed to raise around GBP100 million through a placing, open offer and subscription of shares, the proceeds of which will go towards the acquisition of a pipeline of potential assets.
LXi intends to issue up to 84.6 million shares at a price of 118 pence per share, reflecting a discount of 9.5% to the closing price on Friday last week of 130.4p.
Shares in LXi REIT were down 2.9% at 126.60 pence on Monday.
Qualified shareholders will be able to take part in the open offer on the basis of 6 new shares for each 25 existing shares.
Peel Hunt is acting as bookrunner and sole broker in relation to the share issue.
As at the end of March, LXi's net asset value per share was 114.60 pence, up 6.4% from 107.67p a year before.
LXi's net asset value total return was 12.1%, ahead of the trust's medium term annual target of 8%.
LXi REIT's portfolio consisted of 108 assets as at March 31, up from 87 the same date the prior year, and was independently valued at GBP589.5 million, more than doubled from GBP278.9 million.
As a result of portfolio growth, LXI REIT's total rental income for the year more than doubled to GBP21.6 million from GBP9.3 million. In addition, pretax profit increased to GBP34.1 million from GBP21.0 million.
The trust declared a total dividend of 5.50 pence per share, up from 4.00p the year before. LXi REIT said it has increased its dividend target for its 2020 financial year by 4.6% to 5.75p, in line with its progressive dividend policy.
"I am delighted to report to you another year of strong performance by the group in which we have continued to successfully implement our investment strategy to deliver on and in many cases exceed our targets," said Chair Stephen Hubbard.
"Over the course of the year the company's shares have also shown resilient outperformance, demonstrating the attraction of the portfolio and the quality of the management that has delivered diversified and secure inflation-protected income and growth from high quality assets let to strong tenants in these uncertain times," Hubbard added.
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LXI.L