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LONDON (Alliance News) - AEW UK REIT PLC said on Tuesday it has purchased two mixed use assets in Nottingham and Blackpool, meaning it has now fully invested its equity, as it reported a rise in its net asset value since the end of January.
The property investor said its net asset value at April 30 was GBP116.4 million, or 99.03 pence per share, up from GBP114.8 million, or 97.67p per share, at the end of January. AEW said it was offering a fourth interim dividend of 2.00p per share for the period between February 1 and April 30, up from the 1.25p third interim dividend and 0.64p second interim dividend.
AEW said its earnings per share for the three month period to April 30 was 2.54p per share.
For the period to the end of April, AEW bought three properties for GBP9.0 million, the company said, all of which were industrial warehouses located in Basingstoke, Rotherham and St Helen's, comprising in total approximately 232,523 square feet.
In a separate statement on Tuesday, AEW said it has purchased two further properties, financed using the balance of the available cash and a drawdown on its loan facility with RBS International.
One of the properties is located in Nottingham within the retailing core of the city centre, AEW said, and provides 71,260 square feet of space. The property is currently let to 6 retail tenant and 9 office tenants, including discount store Poundland, coffeehouse chain Costa Coffee and kitchenware stores Lakeland, with a weighted average unexpired lease term of 5.2 years.
The acquisition of the Nottingham property for GBP8.2 million provides an initial yield of 9.0%, a reversionary yield of 9.9% and a capital value per square foot of GBP114, AEW said.
The other property, which AEW bought for GBP5.1 million, is located in Blackpool, adjacent to the Blackpool Tower tourist attraction. The property extends to 100,079 square feet and provides three retail units at the ground floor and a basement, with tenants being Poundland, sportsware retailer Sports Direct and pub chain JD Wetherspoon PLC.
The weighted average unexpired lease term is around 7.5 years to break, AEW said, and the acquisition provides an initial yield of 9.5%, a reversionary yield of 8.4% and a capital value per square feet of GBP50.
As such, AEW has now fully invested its equity and is also geared at 20% gross asset value.
"The company's portfolio represents a well-balanced and diversified range of UK commercial property in line with its investment strategy and provides the company with the ability to pay an 8.00 pence annual dividend which is fully covered by income. The past quarter has also provided us with some very profitable asset management transactions. Aside from this, we continue to see an attractive pipeline of assets across all sectors," AEW said.
Shares at AEW were up 1.0% at 98.99 pence on Tuesday.
By Hannah Boland; hannahboland@alliancenews.com; @Hannaheboland
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