Member Info for TimBob

If you look at EPIC major shareholders, there are some decent funds invested into it... not sure why the share price is not in line with others... Certainly think they are a bargin at the current price... my average buy price is now about 68p, but starting investing in them at the £1 mark and they were delivering a reasonable divi at that point...
Personally think there is lots more scope in divi uplift and also SP... but happy for it to stay low whilst i can keep re-investing my divis lol...

Thanks Cleeve... i think there were a lot of signs that an increase was coming; and whilst i thought they were going to announce an increase, the over negativity in markets and news made me think it might not be until later in the year...
25% increase is a great figure and to be honest, more than i was expecting this year!

So, anyone got any thoughts on the future dividend policy>? I think following from hints in previous updates and probably another one in this months dividend declaration, an increase in the monthly dividend will be on its way... but when and how much is an unknown.
Having looked at the changes previously taken and the current policy, i am hopeful of a solid declaration in the April update. Would be nice to see a 20% increase announced for payment in May, which i dont think is unrealistic bearing in mind the dividend was cut by circa 30% 12mths ago and the current cover they have.
More pessimistically, i think we will have another 3-6mths of the dividend at the current level...

Under UK tax law, Companies that are REITs can pay gross dividends to Share holders; meaning, the dividend is paid in full based on what has been agreed by the board.
UK tax laws mean UK citizens / tax payers must complete a self assessment tax return under certain circumstances; so most people receiving dividend (regardless of where they come from) payments will end up having to declare them and pay tax dependant on income etc.
If you are not a UK citizen or a UK Tax payer (i.e. you do not live and work in the UK) then you will not have to pay tax in the UK but you will have to check with the country you are living in tax authorities and pay any tax that you might owe...

If you haven't seen; EPIC have completed the sale of the Tesco Superstore site at Prestatyn Shopping Park to SuperMarket Income REIT... £26.5m which is inline with the Dec 20 valuation and higher than the purchase price of Dec 17... not sure what these two sums are, but the statement seems to imply that the rental yield on this was at the lower end of the businesses asspirations...

To maintain REIT Status, EPIC need to distribute 90% of its taxable earnings in any specific financial period...
That doesn't necessarily mean 90% of its income! So whilst rental income covers the dividend circa130%, this will hopefully transfer into an increase in the dividend payment; with the financial period ending 30th Sept, we might not see a increase in divi that soon. Though, with the latest government announcement on the opening of non-essential retail on the 12th April, i'm hoping to see some news on a change in dividend policy sooner rather than later...

Think me and Riskingit have discussed this previously. There is a certain amount of revenue that has to be re-distributed to shareholders to maintain REIT status... I doubt very much a special divi will appear here, they'll probably hold back some cash of "cash-flow" and potentially future investment.
But am very optimistic about at incremental increases to the divi once we see light at the end of the Covid tunnel and we should see a return to 2018/19 divi of £0.0575 when we return to "normal"...

Think me and Riskingit have discussed this previously. There is a certain amount of revenue that has to be re-distributed to shareholders to maintain REIT status... I doubt very much a special divi will appear here, they'll probably hold back some cash of "cash-flow" and potentially future investment.
But am very optimistic about at incremental increases to the divi once we see light at the end of the Covid tunnel and we should see a return to 2018/19 divi of £0.0575 when we return to "normal"...

Investment Managers for EPIC have purchased a further 121,000 shares in the business... now holding 1.7m shares in total and have committed to purchasing shares equal in value to 20% of there annual fees! Couldn't see them agree to this unless they had a positive feeling towards the assets!

I think the 25% SP increase is a real potential... if not more! The property has been down valued a lot over the past 18mths; so i believe that the portfolio has been undervalued (mainly due to the negativity around retail and also the fact there doesn't seem to be a difference between NAV of retail property on the high street and that on out of town retail).

Lets hope this lock down doesn't last too long and businesses can start to return to normal and we can start seeing some growth again!

Yes Rickingit... Divi looks like it will be increased; i believe EPIC are planning on making an announcement along with there year end figures.
SP has been pushed up in recent weeks by this anticipated increase and Momentum Global Investment have made a massive buy; im guessing they are banking on an increased divi and capital growth as we exit the covid battle and life slowly returns to normal!

100% agree with your principle of heavily discounted REITs... I followed a very similar process and am very happy with my income! Be nice to see the divi increased as i might have to start taking some income from them!

Yes saw the statement from the board RE increasing dividend payments; great news and no doubt has help push up the share price. REIT distribution requirements is to return 90% of tax exempt income profits; so, if they right down the asset values, these can be used as losses on the annual tax return and therefore reduce the profit and in turn reduces the amount that they have to distribute... if they choose to do it...
Managed to persuade my mother to move some of her investments from CASH ISA into an investment ISA and buy these (only 10% mind); wish she'd listened and moved more, but she was very cautious; she's now getting more in divi payments from EPIC then the other 90% combined!!! Managed to get her bought in at £0.51...
Had my divis all set to reinvest for the past 9mths, building up an additional holding, but at close to £0.70/share, the divi return is starting to get a bit too diluted; so thinking of releasing some shares to pump into something else that's still depressed in value.... if i can find anything that gives me confidence that is!
Either way, im happy with EPIC, its doing me well...

Lies, damn lies and statistics...
UK mortgage approvals his highest levels since 2007 = True Stat... however, the thing that hasn't been reported is the % of these approvals that are "Re-keys"... in the mortgage world, a mortgage approval has a time limit, when this limit is hit, it has to be re-approved; these re-approvals/re-keys are counted in the approval figures of all lenders...
With the delays in New Builds earlier this year, i would suspect that a large quantities of these are additional re-approvals caused by the delays earlier in the year...

Bamps, Big issue with re-building towns is a lack of genuine joined up thinking! They focus too much on one part or another and never put all the pieces together! Another problem with inner city redevelopment is VAT (assuming refurbishment), as new builds are VAT exempt it is a far more attractive and profitably; typically with less constraints and less risk!

BenR, I know a number of serving police officers and my dad is a retired copper... From his point, even criminals respected the police years ago; from my serving friends, now nobody seems too... every police officer is a racist, apparently even those from ethnic backgrounds.

TW does always seem to get the brunt of it; maybe because they really dont know what they want to be be! Persimmon are clear, they build lower value new builds and have a very distinctive profile for there sites. Barratts on the other hand are more towards the top end of the bulk housebuilders building higher quality products. TW, seems to be lost in the middle somewhere!
Jefferies have come out in the past day or two and said that UK house builders have been over sold and they are now just too cheap and present a great opportunity; unfortunately they list BDEV, PSN and Berkeley as its key picks. Personally, i see why PSN and BDEV, but Berkeley is too london centric IMHO... i'll still be buying TW. though as i think PSN and BDev will get hit a little harder on the whole freehold investigation; though that might be years off!

So, at current levels of rent payment levels, EPIC divi is covered 131%... based on roughly 202mil shares and the current dividend at £0.0033/mth, this would leave the company with circa £200k additional cash at the end of each month... £2.4m per year.

And if it is as high as 140% which they have said is a possibility, this would equate to almost £3m at the end of the year.

It'll be interesting to see if and how much surplus is there at the end of the year and what the intentions are for the cash; personally, i believe a combination of debt reduction and increased cash reserves would benefit the business in the short term, Although, an asset purchase (at current depressed values) could / would benefit long term...

Well, i have to say im not too fused with people talking about other shares on the board; sometimes good to hear about something else. I too benefited from the GGP talk; selling some of my shares in one gold stock to buy some GGP and have seen some good gains. should have sold all of them, but was too cautious!
Anyway, surprised to see TW below £1.00; didn't think it would happen, but goes to show sentiment can out weigh stats... Too much fear in the market at the min and talk of a 2nd lockdown after the Govt said there wouldn't be a 2nd lockdown is shocking the markets IMHO...

Nige_W...
Would appear that i have gone a bit mad! Apparently i sold a load of my CEY shares 2wks ago after a comment i think you made and bought into GGP after all!!!
Shows i've obviously got too much going on! Apparently got in at £0.1607 so sitting about 45% up; so thanks... just wish i'd sold all my CEY and bought GGP instead now!!! Hind sign is a wonderful thing!

Patron/ Nige / Owls...
yes gold is good in uncertain times, and whilst it might go up a bit from where it is and my well se a new high, I cant see it doubling.
I genuinely believe that BREXIT and the US elections have already been priced into a number of stocks and commodities, so really dont see there being big movements because of them.
Uncertainty around a recession is something that I dont think has been fully priced in yet, so may pull down some SPs and help support Gold.
Bdev is probably the best builder of the Big 3; but they dont have the same cash reserves as PSN and haven't written down nearly as much as TW for freehold, so could be caught out by that investigation. They are also still messing around with legacy systems and havent fully integrated David Wilson into the business after more than a decade; I think all these might start adding up against them...

Tim