17th Jan 2019 09:22
LONDON (Alliance News) - Tritax Big Box REIT PLC on Thursday reported like-for-like rise in the value of its warehouse portfolio and said that logistics letting reached a record high in 2018.
The trust's portfolio was valued at GBP3.42 billion at December 31, up from GBP2.90 billion last year. On a like-for-like basis, the warehouse portfolio saw 4.7% increase in its value during 2018.
The FTSE 250-listed real estate investment trust said 100% of its portfolio is pre-let with contracted annual rental income of GBP161.1 million.
Tritax Big Box acquired eight developments during the year for an aggregate purchase price of GBP641.5 million, with an average purchase yield of 5.1%.
The trust said the weighted average purchase yield of its total portfolio is 5.5% compared to a valuation yield of 4.4%.
"We have maintained a patient and disciplined approach to capital deployment throughout the year, investing GBP641.5 million in eight off-market and attractively priced assets, including seven forward funded pre-let developments which are due for completion over the course of the next 18 months, each delivering effective income during the construction phase," said Fund Manager and Partner Colin Godfrey.
Tritax Big Box is targeting an aggregate dividend of 6.70 pence for 2018. The company made payout totalling 5.025p in the first nine months of the year.
In 2017, the company paid total dividends of 6.40p per share. Tritax Big Box intends to maintain its progressive dividend policy in 2019 and beyond.
Godfrey continued: "Despite the ongoing uncertainty around Brexit, logistics lettings in 2018 reached near record high levels and market rents continued to grow even though speculative supply has increased."
"This occupier demand has been underpinned by the continued growth in e-commerce and occupiers seeking improved supply chain efficiency through the application of larger, flexible and automated logistics property solutions. Investment demand has also remained high, as evidenced by further yield compression during 2018. The outlook for our company remains positive and we expect UK logistics to remain a robust property investment sector during 2019."
Tritax Big Box is expected to announce its 2018 full year results on March 6.
Shares in Tritax Big Box were up 0.4% Thursday at 138.00 pence each.
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