Daily Mail25 Aug 2025 10:08
Daily Mail
The firms paying dividends of up to 15% you should invest in now – just look at this one whose shares rose 53% since I tipped them, reveals our money guru
By JOANNE HART
Updated: 06:54 EDT, 24 August 202
Newriver Reit
Inflation is rising, tax increases are a racing certainty and sentiment is gloomy – an unwholesome combination, not least for Britain’s thousands of stores and supermarkets.
Fortunately, NewRiver shopping centres and retail parks are beating the market and business is brisk. Revenue and profits growth allow the company to be generous with dividends and 6.9p is forecast for the year to next March, putting the stock on a yield of almost 9.5 per cent.
It recently reported a 6.7 per cent increase in consumer spending across its portfolio, far higher than the national average, and chief executive Allan Lockhart expressed optimism for the future.
Lockhart has property in his blood, having worked in the sector since the 1980s and co-founded NewRiver with his father in 2009.
Recent years have been tough but the business is now fighting fit, with 13 retail parks, 27 shopping centres and management contracts for dozens more outlets across the country.
Lockhart’s confidence is based on hard numbers. Recognising the power of reliable data, NewRiver tracks consumer spending across its portfolio on a quarterly basis so Lockhart knows what works best and chooses tenants and locations accordingly.
Top tenants include value retailers like Lidl, TK Maxx and Primark and popular brands such as Boots, Sainsbury’s, Next and M&S. Shopping centres and retail parks stretch from Aberdeen to Hastings and many tenants are benefiting from so-called omnichannel retailing, where customers blend online shopping with trips to physical stores.
Lockhart also bought rival firm Capital and Regional last year, a canny deal that is already delivering results.
Across the group, properties are 95 per cent full, tenants are loyal and rents are rising.
The outlook is encouraging too. Increased rents feed through to higher dividends and boost the value of NewRiver’s properties, so it can sell non-core sites and acquire new ones.
Lockhart also manages assets for big institutions, banks and private equity firms and hopes to do more, earning handsome fees along the way.
NewRiver shares peaked at more than £3.50 eight years ago but have tumbled to 74p.
Covid hurt, the cost of living crisis did not help and NewRiver was hit hard when disgraced financier Neil Woodford fell to earth, as he was a big investor in the business.
NewRiver is now in a better place. Prospects are sound, dividends are attractive and the shares, at 74p, offer room for growth.
Ticker: NRR
Traded on: main market
Contact: Nrr.co.uk or 020 3328 5800
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