Capital Markets Day and Trading Update

RNS Number : 7632R

Unite Group PLC

26 September 2017

 

Press Release 26 September 2017

THE UNITE GROUP PLC

("Unite Students", "Unite", the "Group", or the "Company")

Unite Students - Capital Markets Day and Trading Update

Trading update

Unite Students, the UK's leading manager and developer of student accommodation, are currently 99% let across our 49,000 bed portfolio for the 2017/18 academic year. Beds under nomination agreements with universities have increased to 29,063 beds representing 60% of Unite's portfolio (2016/17 58%), with 40% directly let to students. The sales performance will deliver annual rental growth at the mid to upper end of our 3.0-3.5% expectations.

In September 2017 Unite opened five new student residences in Edinburgh (two properties), Oxford, Coventry and Liverpool, comprising a total of 2,152 beds. All of the properties were completed on time and in-line with appraised costs. The beds are fully let with 67% of the beds secured on nominations agreements with an average life of 13 years, delivering a yield on cost in-line with expectations.

We are continuing to make progress with the 2020 development pipeline and extending our University partnerships. We have secured 1,000 beds under a lock-out agreement in a strong regional market for delivery in 2020 in line with our return hurdles. We have agreed the extension of our partnership with Kings College, London increasing the average life of our nominations agreements covering 2,355 beds from six years to nine years, with annual fixed uplifts of 3%. We have also extended the life of an agreement with the London School of Economics on a 455 bed property in London from 2030 to 2040, with annual RPI linked uplifts.

Capital Markets Day

Unite Students will today host a Capital Markets Day for institutional investors and analysts at Aston Student Village, Birmingham.  The event will provide an update on the progress made in implementing the Group's strategy, focusing on the property portfolio, university partnerships and service platform.

The presentation will commence at 10.30am and is expected to conclude at around 1:00pm including a question and answer session. Slides will be available on the Unite Group website.  

Richard Smith, UNITE Students CEO, commented: "We are delighted to have delivered another year of full occupancy and strong rental growth. This performance again demonstrates the value of our partnership approach with many of the UK's leading Universities, built on our unique service platform and outstanding property portfolio."

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Joe Lister, Chief Financial Officer                  

Tel: [phone]

Candice Macdonald, Head of Corporate Communications                        

Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors:

About Unite Students

Unite Students is the UK's largest and most established manager and developer of purpose-built student accommodation. It provides a home for around 50,000 students, in more than 140 properties, across 24 leading university cities in England and Scotland. Unite works in partnership with more than 60 Higher Education institutions and also lets rooms directly to students.

Unite's purpose is to provide a home to its culturally diverse customers, offering them a strong foundation for academic and personal success. The accommodation is high quality, safe and close to university campuses, transport links and local amenities. Students live in ensuite study bedrooms with rents covering all bills, insurance, 24-hour security, fortnightly cleaning of communal kitchens and bathrooms and high-speed Wi-Fi.

Founded in 1991 in Bristol, the Unite Group plc is a FTSE250 company, listed on the London Stock Exchange, employing more than 1,400 people. It pursues a sustainable growth strategy, designed to make the most of the resilient nature of the student accommodation sector. Unite is focused on maintaining its position as the leading provider of student accommodation in the UK, by having the best brand, operating the highest quality portfolio and maintaining the strongest capital structure in the sector. This is achieved with consistent investment in, and improvement to, the operating platform; highly selective development activity and asset management initiatives.

Unite is invested in and operates two specialist funds and joint ventures with institutional investment partners, the £2 billion Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund (USAF) and the £1 billion London Student Accommodation Vehicle (LSAV).

Unite is the founder and major donor of the Unite Foundation. Since 2012, this has provided free student accommodation and financial support to 160 young people in the UK who lack family support.

For more information, you can visit Unite's corporate website www.unite-group.co.uk, the student site www.unite-students.com or the Unite Foundation www.unitefoundation.co.uk.

 

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