Valuation and Trading update

RNS Number : 3790C

Circle Property PLC

13 April 2017

 

13 April 2017

Circle Property Plc

("Circle" or the "Company")

Active asset management drives 19.7% value growth in Circle's regional UK portfolio

  Valuation and Trading update

Circle Property Plc ('Circle'), the UK property investment, development and management company that specialises in regional offices, provides the following update on trading ahead of its preliminary results for the 12 months ended 31 March 2017, which will be announced in July 2017.

Portfolio Valuation

The independent valuation of Circle's portfolio as at 31 March 2017 shows strong growth in the value of its portfolio, which is comprised largely of regional office properties, with a 19.7% increase since 31 March 2016. This is largely attributable to the Company's ongoing asset management programme.  Following a 16.3% uplift in portfolio valuation in the first half, there has been a further 4.4% increase in valuation to £93.025 million in the second half, from £89.105 million at 30 September 2016.

Highlights include:

·    Having secured planning permission for a change of use on the ground floor of Somerset House, Temple Street in Birmingham's CBD, from offices to A3 restaurant in the first half of the year, Circle has quickly agreed a 20 year lease with the popular Latin American restaurant, Las Iguanas, at a rent of £220,000 per annum. 

·  The extensive refurbishment programme at 36 Great Charles Street, Birmingham, is now near completion and has driven a 77% increase in value at the 26,000 sq ft multi-let office building, uplifting ERV to £500,000 per annum.

John Arnold, CEO of Circle Property plc, commented:  "To have achieved such a significant increase in valuations, largely through active asset management rather than through acquisitions or yield compression, is a strong endorsement of not only the level of expertise offered by our team, but also of the value inherent in our portfolio of regional UK properties.

Our focus remains on understanding the requirements of occupiers in these key and undersupplied regional business markets, such as Birmingham and Milton Keynes, and delivering high quality space that meets this demand, allowing us to maintain our liquidity and deliver meaningful value to our shareholders. We continue to progress both our redevelopment and refurbishment pipeline as we look to lease the new space that we have created and to opportunistically acquire new assets while, at the same time, undertaking strategic disposals of non-core and ex-growth assets."

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Circle Property Plc	[phone]
John Arnold, CEO
Edward Olins, COO
Peel Hunt (Nominated Advisor to the Group)	[phone]
Capel Irwin Edward Fox
FTI Consulting	[phone]
Richard Sunderland Giles Barrie Polly Warrack

 

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