Town Centre Regulatory News (TOWN)

24 February 2015

Town Centre Securities PLC

Half year results for the six months ended 31 December 2014

Town Centre Securities PLC, the Leeds based property investor and car park operator, today announces its results for the six months ended 31 December 2014.

Financial Highlights:

• Underlying profit before tax £3.4m (2013: £4.0m)

• Underlying earnings per share 6.5p (2013: 7.5p)

• Net asset value per share 326p (2013: 283p; 30 June 2014: 308p)

• Interim dividend of 3.1p (2013: 3.1p)

• Total accounting return 8.2% for the six months to 31 December 2014 (2013: 8.7%, 12 months to 31 December 2014: 18.9%)

• Statutory earnings per share 25.0p (2013: 23.2p)

• Total net borrowings of £159.1m (2013: £157.5m; 30 June 2014: £160.5m)

• Loan to value of 47% (2013: 50%)

Operational Highlights:

· Continuing emphasis on hands on property management:

o Overall occupancy level 97% (2013: 98%; June 2014: 98%)

o 99 management transactions during the 6 month period

o Merrion Centre

§ New Front and car park construction work complete

§ Morrisons new 25 year lease completed and store expansion and refurbishment on site shortly

§ Merrion House redevelopment deal progressing as planned

§ Hotel refurbishment opportunity being explored

· Land purchase completed and work started on site on Waitrose at Milngavie, Glasgow

· Purchase of retail unit on Princes Street, Edinburgh let to Mountain Warehouse for £2.4m at 6% yield

· Sales at Victoria Gate, Leeds and Apperley Bridge, Bradford raise £10m

· Progress on Whitehall Road, Leeds and Piccadilly Basin, Manchester developments

· Car parking profits up and another acquisition completed

Commenting on the results, Edward Ziff, Chairman and Chief Executive said;

"Town Centre Securities PLC has delivered a total shareholder return of 21% over the last 12 months ahead of the wider real estate sector. The first half has seen good performance and values have continued to move forward as the market begins to appreciate the attractions of regional property compared to stretched London valuations. Rental income growth is expected and we are also growing income through active management especially at the Merrion Centre. The car park business provides another opportunity for income growth and we continue to expand these operations.

"Our strong asset management capability continues to maintain our high occupancy levels which in turn underpin our rental income and profitability. Our performance remains in line with our expectations and we look forward to the future with confidence as the regional economy continues to benefit from the ripple effect of economic growth."

Chairman and Chief Executive's Statement

Results

Underlying profit before tax for the six months ended 31 December 2014 amounted to £3.4m (2013: £4.0m). Underlying earnings per share amounted to 6.5p (2013: 7.5p). With a portfolio valuation increase in the first half of £9.1m (2013: £8.2m) statutory profit before tax amounted to £13.3m (2013: £12.3m).

Rental income from investment properties was £7.9m (2013: £8.9m); the fall reflecting the impact of the £17.3m of property disposals (including Park Row Leeds completed in July 2014). Income from car parks was £3.0m (2013: £2.5m) benefitting from underlying growth and the acquisition of Clements Road, Ilford.

Property and administrative expenses totalled £4.4m (2013: £4.0m) and net finance costs decreased to £3.4m (2013: £3.9m) reflecting the impact of the sales of properties.

Net assets increased by 5.8% to £173.5m (June 2014: £163.9m). Net assets per share increased to 326p (2013: 283p; 30 June 2014: 308p). Triple net asset value was £162.1m, representing 305p per share (2013: £160.3m, 301p per share).

Dividends

The interim dividend of 3.1p per share (2013: 3.1p) will be paid as a Property Income Distribution and will amount to £1.6m. It will be paid on 26 June 2015 to shareholders registered on 29 May 2015. The final dividend for 2014 amounting to £3.9m was paid on 6 January 2015.

Review of property management activities

Our asset management team has maintained the quality and occupancy of our portfolio having completed over 99 leasing transactions during the period.

Across the whole portfolio occupancy levels remain strong at 97% (2013: 98%; June 2014: 98%). Rent collections continue to be robust with over 99% collected within five days of the most recent quarter date.

Merrion Centre

In the Merrion Centre the New Front Arena Quarter development is complete with a total spend of £5.6m on the retail units producing an ERV of £0.8m, a yield of 14% producing a valuation gain of over £8m. We are in numerous negotiations to let the remaining units and we are working hard to maximise the value of this scheme. The car park refurbishment is now complete and it is fully open for business trading under our new CitiPark brand.

In the main mall we successfully relocated Peacocks and 3 Store who were open and trading again before Christmas. This has enabled Morrisons to increase the size of their store by 20%. They will be on site shortly and are undertaking a complete refurbishment at the same time.

We are on track with the redevelopment of Merrion House with Leeds City Council as the tenant. This will involve adding 50,000 sq ft of new space and refurbishing the existing 120,000 sq ft. On completion Leeds City Council will take a new 25 year lease.

We are also progressing the £7.5m redevelopment of the Merrion Hotel and we hope to begin work during 2015/16.

Other properties

We are on site with our Waitrose development in Scotland and construction is going well. We completed on the purchase of the land at a cost of £3m in the summer.

We completed the purchase of 126 Princes Street, Edinburgh for £2.4m. The unit is let to Mountain Warehouse at £148,000 pa representing a net initial yield of 6%.

We also completed 2 significant disposals:

· Our property and joint venture interests in the Victoria Gate development in Leeds were sold for £4.6m

· Our site at Apperley Bridge, Bradford was sold to a housebuilder for £5m. After site preparation costs of around £0.9m this represents a profit of £1.8m on our cost of £2.3m in 2012

We also completed the transactions announced at the time of the final results in September namely, the sale of Park Row, Leeds for £7.5m and the purchase of Duke Street, London W1 for £3.1m.

We also continue to progress our development sites:

· We are preparing the marketing plan for 91 new residential units at Piccadilly Basin, Manchester for which we received planning consent during the period

· We expect to receive consent shortly for a 70,000 sq ft office building on Whitehall Riverside in addition to the 200,000 sq ft building currently being marketed. The smaller site already has a hotel consent

Car parking

Car park revenues for the period have increased to £3.0m (2013: £2.5m) with underlying profitability of £1.4m (2013: £1.4m). Although the Merrion Centre operation is down on last year as a result of the refurbishment work there all other sites have shown strong growth. The initial rebranding of our acquisition at Clements Road, Ilford is complete and we are starting to see the benefits in income. We also completed the acquisition of a 19 year leasehold 220 space basement car park in Clipstone Street, London W1 in December for £0.8m.

Financing

Total net borrowings at 31 December 2014 were £159.1m (2013: £157.5m; 30 June 2014: £160.5m) giving a loan to value ratio of 47% (2013: 50%; 30 June 2014 49%). We have £106.0m First Mortgage Debenture Stock 2031 and have drawn £53.1m against our £90m of revolving credit facilities and overdraft of £5m. The revolving credit facilities are due for renewal between 29 February 2016 and 30 September 2016. There is significant headroom in our facilities and we are operating well within our loan to value and interest cover covenants.

Valuation

Our investment properties were valued at £313.6m at 31 December 2014 and our development properties are carried at £22.8m. £315.0m of the total property portfolio was valued by our external valuers with the remainder valued by the Directors. On a like for like basis and ignoring capital expenditure the valuation increased by £13.7m (4.7%); the overall portfolio valuation increase shown in the accounts was £9.1m (2.8%).

The initial yield on the investment portfolio is 6.0% (June 2014: 6.8%).

New appointments

As announced in December 2014, I am delighted to welcome Ian Marcus and Paul Huberman as new non-executive directors to our Board with effect from 1 January 2015. Their combined experience and knowledge of the sector will add significant strength to the executive team and the Board. I look forward to working with them as we enter the next stage of the Company's development.

We have also continued to strengthen our operational teams in all areas.

Outlook

Town Centre Securities PLC has delivered a total shareholder return of 21% over the last 12 months ahead of the wider real estate sector. The first half has seen good performance and values have continued to move forward as the market begins to appreciate the attractions of regional property compared to stretched London valuations. Rental income growth is expected and we are also growing income through active management especially at the Merrion Centre. The car park business provides another opportunity for income growth and we continue to expand these operations.

Our strong asset management capability continues to maintain our high occupancy levels which in turn underpin our rental income and profitability. Our performance remains in line with our expectations and we look forward to the future with confidence as the regional economy continues to benefit from the ripple effect of economic growth.

I would like to thank our dedicated staff for their continuing hard work and commitment.

Edward M ZiffChairman and Chief Executive24 February 2015

Consolidated income statement

for the six months ended 31 December 2014

The Directors have approved an interim dividend of 3.1p per share (2013: 3.1p). The 2014 final dividend was £3.9m (for the six months ended 31 December 2013: £3.9m).

Consolidated statement of comprehensive income

for the six months ended 31 December 2014

All recognised income for the period is attributable to equity shareholders.

Consolidated balance sheet

as at 31 December 2014

Consolidated statement of changes in equity

for the six months ended 31 December 2014

1 Other reserves on the balance sheet consist of the hedging reserve and capital redemption reserve in the table above. 

Consolidated cash flow statement

for the six months ended 31 December 2014

The Consolidated Cash Flow Statement should be read in conjunction with Note 10.

Notes to the consolidated interim financial information

1. Basis of preparation

General information

Town Centre Securities PLC (the "Company") is a public limited company domiciled in the United Kingdom. Its shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange. The Consolidated Financial Statements of the Company for the year ended 30 June 2014 comprise the Company and its subsidiaries (together referred to as the "Group"). The address of its registered office is Town Centre House, The Merrion Centre, Leeds LS2 8LY. The principal activities of the Group during the period remained those of property investment, development and trading and the provision of car parking.

This interim financial information was approved for issue on 24 February 2015.

This interim financial information does not comprise statutory accounts within the meaning of Section 434 of the Companies Act 2006. Statutory accounts for the year ended 30 June 2014 were approved by the Board of Directors on 10 October 2014 and delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The report of the auditor on those accounts was unqualified, did not contain an emphasis of matter paragraph and did not contain any statement under Section 498 of the Companies Act 2006.

This interim financial information has not been reviewed or audited.

Basis of preparation

This interim financial information for the half year ended 31 December 2014 has been prepared in accordance with the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the Financial Services Authority and with IAS 34, 'Interim Financial Reporting', as adopted by the European Union. The condensed consolidated interim financial information should be read in conjunction with the annual financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2014, which have been prepared in accordance with IFRS as adopted by the European Union.

Accounting policies

The accounting policies adopted are consistent with those of the previous financial year.

Exceptional items are disclosed and described separately in the financial statements where it is necessary to do so to provide further understanding of the financial performance of the Group. They are material items of income or expense that have been shown separately due to the significance of their nature or amount.

Taxes on income in the interim periods are accrued using the tax rate that would be applicable to expected total annual earnings.

Going concern basis

The Directors have reviewed the cash flow forecasts of the Group and the underlying assumptions on which they are based. The Directors consider that the Group has adequate financial resources, tenants with appropriate leases and covenants, and properties of sufficient quality to enable them to conclude that the Company will continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. The Group therefore continues to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing its consolidated interim financial statements.

Principal risks and uncertainties

The Group set out on page 22 of its Annual Report and Accounts 2014 the principal risks and uncertainties that could impact its performance; these remain unchanged since the Annual Report was published. The Group operates a structured risk management process, which identifies and evaluates risks and uncertainties and reviews mitigation activity.

Our key risks relate to property valuations, availability of finance, occupancy levels and future income. Property values are currently stable and we have sufficient bank facilities and headroom in place. The Group has no over reliance on any one tenant or sector and has a skilled and experienced team of asset managers dealing with day-to-day management of our portfolio.

Forward-looking statements

Certain statements in this half year report are forward-looking. Although the Group believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct. Because these statements involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

The Group undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

2. Segmental information

The chief operating decision-maker has been identified as the Board. The Board reviews the Group's internal reporting in order to assess performance and allocate resources. Management has determined the operating segments based on these reports.

Segment assets

The property rental business segment includes assets which generate car parking revenues. Assets relating to car park activities are included to the extent that they can be valued independently of related investment property.

Segmental results

 3. Administrative expenses

4. Dividends

A final dividend in respect of 2014 of 7.34p per share was approved at the Company's Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 18 November 2014 and was paid to shareholders on 6 January 2015. This dividend comprised an ordinary dividend of 0.82p per share and a Property Income Distribution (PID) of 6.52p per share.

An interim dividend in respect of 2015 of 3.1p per share is proposed. This amounts to an estimated dividend of £1.6 million which has not been reflected in this report and will be paid on 26 June 2015 to shareholders on the register on 29 May 2015.

This dividend will be paid entirely as a PID.

5. Earnings per share

Underlying earnings and earnings per share have been disclosed in order that the effects of disposal profits and losses, revaluation movements and non-recurring items can be fully appreciated.

Basic earnings per share is calculated by dividing the earnings attributable to ordinary shareholders by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the year.

6. Tangible fixed assets

(a) Investment properties

£315.0m of the total property portfolio was valued by our external valuers with the remainder valued by the Directors. 

(b) Fixtures, equipment and motor vehicles

7. Car park lease premiums

Car park lease premiums comprise the acquisition costs of leasehold car parks with a term of less than 50 years.

8. Investments in joint ventures

9. Called up equity share capital

Authorised

164,879,000 (30 June 2014: 164,879,000) ordinary shares of 25p each.

Issued and fully paid

10. Cash flow from operating activities

11. "Triple" net asset value per share

To assist shareholders in understanding the results, the table below shows how the "triple" net asset value was arrived at:

The negative mark to market adjustment in respect of the Debenture reflects the significant fall in long term interest rates and margin during the period. 

Responsibility statement of the directors

The Directors confirm that, to the best of their knowledge, these condensed consolidated interim financial statements have been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 as adopted by the European Union. The interim management report includes a fair review of the information required by DTR 4.2.7R and DTR 4.2.8R, namely:

· an indication of important events that have occurred during the first six months of the financial year and their impact on the condensed set of financial statements, and a description of the principal risks and uncertainties for the remaining six months of the financial year; and

· material related party transactions in the first six months of the financial year and any material changes in the related party transactions described in the last Annual Report and Accounts.

A list of current Directors is maintained on the Town Centre Securities PLC Group website: www.tcs-plc.co.uk.

Edward M Ziff Duncan Syers

Chairman and Chief Executive Finance Director

24 February 2015