29th Jan 2007 07:01
Wichford plc29 January 2007 Wichford plc Portfolio Update Wichford plc, the Government Property Investment Company is pleased to announcethat the Government acting through its agents, Trillium, have signed newextended leases on three properties at Redcar, Wigan and Dundee. Wigan The property is a Job Centre Plus located in the centre of the town and is letto the Secretary of State for the Environment until June 2009. The property waspurchased by Wichford in November 2004 at a cost of £3,200,000. The lease has now been extended to June 2024 with a break clause in March 2018.There are rent reviews in 2009 and five yearly thereafter and these are nowlinked to the increase in the CPI. The property will be transferred from the Active to the Core Portfolio Redcar The property is again a Job Centre in a good position in Redcar and is let tothe Secretary of State for the Environment until 2020, originally with a breakin 2010. The property was purchased by Wichford in November 2004 at a cost of£1,150,000. The lease has now been varied and the break clause replaced by a new break on 31March 2018. The property will be transferred from the Active to the Core Portfolio. Dundee This property is already part of the Core Portfolio and consists of a CityCentre office building let to Secretary of State for the Environment until 2013.The building was purchased in June 2005 at a cost of £5,000,000. The lease has now been extended by 10 years to 2023 but with a break in March2018. The rent reviews due in 2008 and five yearly thereafter are now subject to theincrease in the CPI. Summary The independent valuers, AtisReal have indicated that, following these new leaseagreements, the current value of these three assets is now approximately£12,745,000. This equates to an increase in NAV per share of circa 21/2p sincethe last valuation at 30 September 2006 and is significantly more than the£9,350,000 paid for the properties. Furthermore, following these transactions, approximately 30% of the portfoliohas leases linked to some form of price indexation, which is advantageous as itshould provide greater certainty as to future increases in rental income. Inaddition the Core Portfolio now represents 77% and the Active 23% of the whole. Enquiries Citigate Dewe Rogerson Tel: 020 7638 9571George CazenoveHannah Seward Notes to Editors Wichford PLC is a property investment company, with a portfolio focused on UKinvestment property outside Central London occupied exclusively by UK CentralGovernment bodies. The Company currently has 68 properties under management witha gross asset value of circa £511 million generating a rental income of over£30.6 million per annum. The Company maintains a portfolio of properties acrossthe UK with unit values usually between £2 million and £25 million. Theproperties are occupied by UK Central Government bodies and all are outsideCentral London. The Company's current core portfolio has a weighted averageunexpired lease term of circa 11 years. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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