Last checked at 25 Apr 2018 07:00
25 April 2018
Empiric Student Property plc
("Empiric" or the "Company" or, together with its subsidiaries, the "Group")
RESULT OF AGM AND TRADING UPDATE
The Board of Empiric Student Property plc (ticker: ESP) (the "Board"), the owner and operator of student accommodation across the UK, announces that all resolutions proposed at the Company's Annual General Meeting held on 24 April 2018 were duly passed as set out below.
The Board is also pleased to provide the following trading update:
Stuart Beevor, Acting Chairman, commented:
"We are very encouraged with the Company's on-going progress in delivering financial and operational improvements across the business. We look forward to being able to report further progress in the near term, ahead of the announcement of the Company's interim results in August 2018."
· Bookings growing strongly: Bookings for the 2018/19 academic year are currently 57% compared to 45% at the same time last year, and up from 48% as announced by the Company on 21 March 2018. 7.50% of beds in the Company's portfolio are let on nominations agreements or leases with universities.
o Targeting occupancy of 97% for the 2018/19 academic year, supported by an increased focus on the end to end sales process.
· Operating margin increasing: Significant progress made on improving the operating margin in FY 2018 and on track to bring cost-effective facilities management in-house in stages completing in Q1 2019, with the first significant cost savings from Q4 2018 as third party costs begin to fall away.
· Administration expenses reducing: On track to achieve the target of £10 million in FY 2018 for administration expenses, a reduction of 26% on FY 2017.
· Improving dividend cover: Significant progress made on improving dividend cover which is expected to be approximately two thirds covered by adjusted earnings in FY 2018 and fully covered in FY 2019.
o Targeting a dividend of 5.0 pence per share for the year ending 31 December 2018.
· Non-executive Chairman: The Board has commenced a process to identify a new non-executive Chairman and looks forward to making a further announcement in due course.
In accordance with Listing Rule 9.6.2(R), a copy of the resolutions passed at the Annual General Meeting will be submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will be available for inspection at www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/NSM.
As at the date of the meeting, there were 602,887,740 ordinary shares with voting rights in issue. Proxies were received by the Company from shareholders at the meeting, as follows:
RESOLUTION | FOR | AGAINST | WITHHELD VOTES | ||
VOTES | % OF VOTES CAST* | VOTES | % OF VOTES CAST* | ||
1. To receive the Company's Annual Report and Accounts for the financial period ended 31 December 2017 | 244,762,891 | 100.00 | 1,644 | 0.00 | 9,419 |
2. To approve the Directors' Remuneration Report | 208,498,057 | 98.07 | 4,105,809 | 1.93 | 32,170,087 |
3. To re-appoint BDO LLP as Auditors of the Company | 244,388,221 | 99.85 | 358,833 | 0.15 | 26,900 |
4. To authorise the Directors to determine the remuneration of the Auditors | 244,314,578 | 99.82 | 432,516 | 0.18 | 26,860 |
5. To authorise the Directors to declare and pay all dividends as interim dividends | 244,324,444 | 99.82 | 444,171 | 0.18 | 5,339 |
6. To elect Lynne Fennah as a Director of the Company who, having been appointed as a Director by the Board since the last AGM | 235,755,839 | 96.32 | 9,011,776 | 3.68 | 6,339 |
7. To re-elect Timothy Attlee as a Director of the Company | 225,344,160 | 92.06 | 19,423,455 | 7.94 | 6,339 |
8. To re-elect Jim Prower as a Director of the Company | 243,314,184 | 99.41 | 1,453,430 | 0.59 | 6,339 |
9. To re-elect Stephen Alston as a Director of the Company | 137,937,459 | 57.62 | 101,457,542 | 42.38 | 5,378,952 |
10. To authorise the Directors to allot shares under (section 551 of the Companies Act 2006) | 234,628,000 | 95.85 | 10,145,954 | 4.15 | 0 |
11. Special Resolution - subject to the passing of Resolution 10, the Directors shall have the power to allot equity securities (pursuant to sections 570 and 573 of the Companies Act 2006) for cash | 243,513,265 | 99.49 | 1,260,315 | 0.51 | 374 |
12. Special Resolution - subject to the passing of Resolution 10, the Directors shall have the power to allot equity securities (pursuant to sections 570 and 573 of the Companies Act 2006) for cash for the purpose of financing an acquisition or other capital investment | 211,389,764 | 86.36 | 33,383,815 | 13.64 | 374 |
13. Special Resolution - authorise the Company to make market purchases of own shares in the Company | 212,937,154 | 86.75 | 32,520,624 | 13.25 | 130,749 |
14. Special resolution - that a general meeting may be called on not less than 14 clear days' notice | 237,108,756 | 96.95 | 7,453,413 | 3.05 | 0 |
15. Articles 95.1 and 95.2 of the Company's current articles of association be and are hereby replaced in their entirety | 210,351,352 | 86.07 | 34,043,424 | 13.93 | 167,392 |
* Excludes votes withheld
The Board notes the significant proportion of votes which were cast against the re-appointment of Stephen Alston and is aware of the recommendation made by certain of the voting information services against the re-appointment of Stephen Alston. Stephen Alston is a partner of Real Estate Venture Capital Management LLP ("Revcap"), which is the Group's former joint venture partner. The Group acquired Revcap's holding in the Willowbank joint venture on 31 March 2017 and paid fees to Revcap up to 30 June 2017. While there is no longer a business relationship between the Group and Revcap, in accordance with the UK Corporate Governance Code Stephen will not be independent until 30 June 2020.
The Board regularly reviews the independence of all directors and is satisfied that Stephen Alston is independently minded in his approach in his role as a director of Empiric, providing challenging, intellectual and thorough input to the Board which is very much valued.
For further information on the Company, please contact:
Empiric Student Property plc | (via Newgate below) |
Tim Attlee (Acting Chief Executive Officer) | |
Lynne Fennah (Chief Financial Officer) | |
Jefferies International Limited | Tel: 020 7029 8000 |
Gary Gould | |
Stuart Klein | |
Newgate (PR Adviser) | Tel: 020 7680 6550 |
James Benjamin | Em: empiric@newgatecomms.com |
Anna Geffert | |
Patrick Hanrahan | |
Leena Patel |
The Company's LEI is 213800FPF38IBPRFPU87.
Further information on Empiric can be found on the Company's website at www.empiric.co.uk.
Notes:
Empiric Student Property plc is a leading provider and operator of modern, direct-let, nominated or leased student accommodation across the UK. Investing in both operating and development assets, Empiric is a multi-niche student property company focused on, (i) providing good quality first year accommodation managed through its Hello Student® operating platform in partnership with universities, (ii) offering a variety of second and third year purpose built accommodation options for individual students and those wanting a group living environment, and (iii) continuing to expand the Group's existing premium, studio-led accommodation portfolio which is attractive to international and postgraduate students.
The Company, an internally managed real estate investment trust ("REIT") incorporated in England and Wales, listed on the premium listing segment of the Official List of the Financial Conduct Authority and was admitted to trading on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange in June 2014.