25th Sep 2019 10:26
(Alliance News) - PRS REIT PLC on Wednesday reported a sharp jump in annual rental income and profit following the addition of 768 new rental homes to the trust's portfolio.
PRS REIT's portfolio is managed by London-listed private-rented sector property developer and investor Sigma Capital Group PLC. Sigma Capital acts as investment adviser to PRS REIT, having set up the real estate investment trust in May 2017.
Sigma Capital develops private rented sector residential sites - through its platform - and then sells them to PRS REIT, which in turn contracts Sigma Capital to manage them.
At June 30, PRS REIT's IFRS and EPRA NAV per share stood at 95.8 pence after dividend payments, down 2.5% from the 98.3p seen at the same point the year before.
The private rented sector property investor's net assets slipped 2.0% in the period to GBP474.3 million from GBP486.0 million the year before.
Pretax profit multiplied to GBP14.6 million from GBP3.2 million.
Rental income jumped to GBP6.0 million from GBP1.8 million and non-rental income increased to GBP4.9 million from GBP1.5 million.
The average rent per month per tenant increased 2.6% to GBP760 from GBP741.
"The PRS REIT made good progress over its second year of activity, and our portfolio of newly-built family rental homes increased by 768 to 1,173 by the year end, with a further 3,200 or so homes under construction across 37 sites. The pace of completions continues to accelerate, and we have since the year end completed a further 178 homes, taking our total to 1,351," said PRS REIT Chair Steve Smith.
The estimated rental value of the 1,173 completed homes stands at GBP10.7 million per annum, sharply higher than the GBP3.6 million estimated a year before.
PRS REIT's number of contracted homes has trebled to 3,196 from 1,305 with the estimated rental value from those contracted homes also trebling to GBP30.5 million per annum.
"Within the next few months the remainder of the company's GBP900 million of gross funds will be deployed. When the last house is completed, this will take the PRS REIT's portfolio to some 5,400 homes in 75 sites across the major regions of England, and should provide an ongoing dividend of 5.5 pence per annum," continued Smith.
The trust distributed 5p in dividends during the period, unchanged from the year before, and in line with targets.
Smith added: "Family rental homes remain critically undersupplied throughout the UK, and the PRS REIT is playing a part in addressing this need, bringing high quality, professionally-managed homes to middle-income families. Whilst there is political uncertainty, the board believes that the Company is in good shape and remains on track to achieve both its short and long-term goals."
Shares in PRS REIT were 2.3% higher in London on Wednesday at 89.50p each. Sigma Capital was trading flat at 102.00p.
By Paul McGowan; [email protected]
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