6th Mar 2014 10:25
LONDON (Alliance News) - Unite Group PLC Thursday reported a fall in pretax profit and revenue for the full year, due to a reduction in planned sales of completed property.
The student accommodation provider also announced plans to raise GBP100 million through the issue of news shares, with the funds to be used partly to increase its stake in the Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund.
Unite posted pretax profit of GBP77.1 million for 2013, down from GBP126.2 million, as total revenue - which includes rental income and property sales - fell to GBP101.6 million from GBP214.6 million a year earlier.
The fall is largely attributable to a drop in property sales and other income which amounted to GBP20.6 million, compared to GBP135.2 million a year earlier. Rental income, however, increased to GBP81.0 million, from GBP79.4 million.
During the period, the company made sales worth GBP75 million, including the disposal of its remaining NHS properties.
The company's net asset value per share rose to 382 pence from 250 pence. This was attributed to the positive impact of retained profits after dividends and the growth in value of the company's shares of investment assets.
The company's EPRA earnings per share stood at 18.0 pence, up from 9.9 pence. EPRA is the European Public Real Estate Association, the industry body for European REITs.
Overall, occupancy across Unite's portfolio for the 2013/14 academic year stands at 98%. It is valued at GBP1.37 billion, up from GBP1.25 billion at the end of 2012.
Looking ahead, Unite said reservations for the 2014/15 academic year are "encouraging" and stand at 64%, up from 62% at the same point last year. The company also said the continued attraction of the UK as a destination for international students suggests a further increase in the number of new students next year of around 20,000.
"This provides us with further confidence in occupancy and rental levels for the 2014/15 academic year, which we again expect to show rental growth of around 3%," it said.
In a separate note, Unite said it plans to raise GBP100 million through a firm placing and a placing and open offer of 24.5 million shares at 410 pence per share.
Around 7.7 million shares will be issued through the firm placing to raise GBP31 million and 16.8 million shares will be issued through the placing and open offer to raise GBP69 million.
It will use the proceeds increase its stake in the Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund to 22% from 16% and to fund future development activity.
The Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund is an open-ended non-listed real estate fund that focuses on acquiring and operating high-quality student accommodation in the UK.
The placing is being handled by JP Morgan Cazenove, Numis Securities and Jefferies.
The company declared a final dividend of 3.2 pence from 3.0 pence, making a full year dividend of 4.8 pence from 4.0 pence.
The stock was trading at 441.64 pence Thursday morning, down 10.36 pence or 2.3%.
By Anthony Tshibangu; [email protected]; @AnthonyAllNews
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