29th Mar 2019 09:32
LONDON (Alliance News) - Triple Point Social Housing REIT PLC on Friday reported a strong performance for 2018, meeting its target dividend, as profit, rental income and portfolio value more than doubled during the period.
In a separate announcement, the real estate investment trust said it has acquired four supporting housing properties and entered into a forward funding arrangement to develop one housing scheme, for a combined total of GBP11.4 million.
The five UK schemes comprise 60 units, and are located in Yorkshire, the North West, East Midlands, the South West, and London.
For the four acquired properties, Triple Point has entered into full repair and insurance leases for a minimum period of 20 years with specialist housing associations 28A Supported Living, Care Housing Association and Inclusion Housing.
For the forward funded asset, the trust will enter a 20-year FRI lease with Care Housing Association. All leases have the option to be extended to 25 years.
For 2018, Triple Point reported a pretax profit of GBP19.9 million, up from GBP5.7 million the year before, lifted by a higher gain on the fair value adjustment on investment to GBP14.5 million from GBP5.6 million.
Rental income climbed to GBP11.5 million from GBP1.0 million the prior year, as the trust's portfolio value as at the end of 2018 more than doubled to GBP343.7 million from GBP146.9 million.
On an IFRS basis, the portfolio value rose to GBP323.5 million from GBP137.5 million the prior year.
During the year, Triple Point acquired 156 properties for an aggregate price of GBP170.8 million, bringing the total portfolio to 272 properties.
The trust committed GBP26.3 million to forward fund the development of 13 newly built or fully-renovated bespoke supported housing schemes. Six of these schemes were practically completed during the year.
Triple Point's net asset value as at December 31 was 103.65 pence, up 2.8% from 100.84p the same date the year before.
The trust declared a dividend of 5.00 pence per share, up fivefold from 1.00p the year before, and in line with its target.
Looking ahead, Triple Point is targeting a 2019 dividend of 5.095 pence per share, in what the trust expects to be "another good year".
"Given strong underlying demand and the investment manager's long-standing relationships with the leading supported housing developers, we expect 2019 to be another good year for us. The market remains attractive due to the cost-savings supported housing provides local authorities, the higher quality of accommodation provided to residents of supported housing, and the lack of alternative funding sources for the development of new scheme," said Chair Christopher Philips.
Shares in Triple Point Social Housing were down 1.0% at 102.00 pence on Friday.
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