Rent Collection & Trading Update

RNS Number : 1583E

Real Estate Investors PLC

04 November 2020

 

Real Estate Investors Plc

("REI" or the "Company" or the "Group")

Rent Collection & Trading Update

Real Estate Investors Plc (AIM: RLE), the UK's only Midlands-focused Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) with a diversified portfolio of 1.59 million sq ft of investment property across all sectors, is pleased to advise that rent collection for previous and current quarters continues to improve.

Updated rent collection for the March quarter (March to June) is now 93.44% (adjusted for monthly and deferred agreements) up from 90.7% reported on 21 September, 90.16% reported on 15 July and 81% reported on 15 June.

June quarter (June to September) rent collection has now risen to 90.23% (adjusted for monthly and deferred agreements), up from 86.9% reported on 21 September and 81.94% reported on 15 July.

September quarter (September to December) rent collection is currently 89.92% (adjusted for monthly and deferred agreements).

Rent Collection Table

Rent Collections	March Quarter	June Quarter	September Quarter
Collected	83.08%	85.59%	85.31%
Deferred arrangement	10.36%	4.64%	4.61%
Total	93.44%	90.23%	89.92%
Debtors	6.56%	9.77%	10.08%

We continue to be in supportive dialogue with a number of tenants and anticipate that unpaid rents will be received from these tenants as they become able to commence normalised trading again.

There also remain a number of tenants that continue to delay paying and are taking full advantage of government restrictions on landlords.  These tenants have the ability to pay but are refusing to do so whilst these rules are in force, though some of them have now engaged in a dialogue and have agreed settlement arrangements.

We remain confident of recovering these outstanding rents or being able to reach an agreed solution.

Occupancy & WAULT

Our current occupancy level across the portfolio is 93% and year to date we have secured 23 positive lease events. The WAULT across the portfolio has been materially extended following the recent negotiations with tenants and is currently 4.86 years to break (31 December 2019: 3.82 years to break) and similarly expiry dates have moved to 6.53 years (31 December 2019: 5.79 years to expiry).

Retail

As reported in September, a somewhat normal pattern of trading has been enjoyed by a large proportion of our occupiers for the last few months, with our neighbourhood and convenience retail portfolio in particular showing resilience and strong performance.

 

Offices

Our office portfolio, which is almost entirely out of town, continues to see improved demand as occupiers seek to provide a safe and convenient environment for their employees without the need for unnecessary use of public transport or City centre commutes.  We anticipate strong ongoing demand and the potential for rental growth and capital appreciation.

Dividend

We have continued to make our quarterly, fully covered dividend payments of 0.50p.  The Board will reflect on the strength of the trading performance for the year and make a final dividend payment accordingly, complying with our REIT payment obligations.

Share Buyback Programme

The Company announced the terms of a share buyback programme on 20 October 2020 with an aggregate market value of up to £2.0 million which is expected to end no later than 31 December 2020.

Paul Bassi, Chief Executive, commented:

"Management's experience and proactive approach to asset management and the ongoing strategy to operate a diversified portfolio has supported our robust levels of occupancy and rent collection."

"We also remain confident that occupier demand for our assets will continue and we are mindful that the current environment may create opportunistic sales and acquisitions for the Group."

Enquiries:

Real Estate Investors Plc Paul Bassi/Marcus Daly	[phone]
Cenkos Securities Katy Birkin/Ben Jeynes	[phone]
Liberum Jamie Richards/William Hall	[phone]
Allenby Capital Nick Naylor/Asha Chotai	[phone]
Novella Communications Tim Robertson/Fergus Young	[phone]

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 until the release of this announcement.

About Real Estate Investors Plc

Real Estate Investors Plc is a publicly quoted, internally managed property investment company and REIT with a portfolio of 1.59 million sq ft of mixed-use commercial property, managed by a highly-experienced property team with over 100 years of combined experience of operating in the Midlands property market across all sectors.  The Company's strategy is to invest in well located, real estate assets in the established and proven markets across the Midlands, with income and capital growth potential, realisable through active portfolio management, refurbishment, change of use and lettings.  The portfolio has no material reliance on a single asset or occupier.  On 1st January 2015, the Company converted to a REIT.  Real Estate Investment Trusts are listed property investment companies or groups not liable to corporation tax on their rental income or capital gains from their qualifying activities.  The Company aims to deliver capital growth and income enhancement from its assets, supporting its dividend policy, which has enjoyed 7 years of consecutive growth.  Further information on the Company can be found at www.reiplc.com.

 

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