Unite Regulatory News (UTG)

THE UNITE GROUP PLC

('Unite Students', 'Unite', the 'Group', or the 'Company')

Capital Markets Day and Trading Update

Unite Students, the UK's leading manager and developer of student accommodation, is today hosting a Capital Markets Day for institutional investors and analysts in Bristol, which will include a trading update.

Highlights

Against a backdrop of continued strong demand for high quality student accommodation, the Company continues to deliver sustainable earnings growth by focusing on enhancing its portfolio and market leading operating platform to deliver a superior student experience in partnership with universities where demand is strongest.

· Market dynamics remain supportive

o 98% let across our portfolio for the 2018/19 academic year

o Full year rental growth in line with our 3.0-3.5% target

o USAF and LSAF Q3 portfolio valuations up 1.1% and 1.6%

· Exposure to high and mid-tier universities on track to reach 90% on completion of secured pipeline

· Seven new student residences (3,074 beds) opened in September in Birmingham, Bristol, Durham (2 properties), Newcastle, Portsmouth and Sheffield. Beds are fully let to students attending high and mid-ranked universities and 52% of these beds are secured on nomination agreements with an average life of ten years

· Disposal of 13 properties, comprising 3,436 beds, for £180.5 million (Unite share: £84.7 million) completed in September

· Further progress on strategy to deliver ongoing growth through partnerships with Universities:

o 60% of beds total beds now under nomination agreements

o In active discussions with 10 plus universities following successful off-campus university partnerships in London and Oxford

· Performance underpinned by investment in our market leading brand and operating platform:

o Further improvements in customer satisfaction scores

o Placer app now live, digital improvements are driving enhanced customer experience

o On track to deliver full year efficiency targets of 75% NOI margin and 25-30bps overhead efficiency

o Full year EBIT margin expected to be around 70% (2017: 68%) and new target established at 74% by 2021

· £275 million 10-year unsecured bond issued at a rate of 3.5%

Capital Markets Day

Today's event will include an update on progress made in the implementation of the Group's strategy, focusing on the property portfolio, university partnerships and service platform.

The presentation will commence at 9.30am and be followed by a question and answer session, which will conclude at around 12:00pm. Guests will then have the opportunity to visit Brunel House, a new 246-bed development which opened last month in the heart of Bristol. Slides from the presentation will be available on the Unite Group website.

Richard Smith, Chief Executive of Unite Students, said:

"It's great to see the momentum we achieved at the half year continuing. The supportive market dynamics are underpinned by a portfolio focused on universities where demand is strongest and our growing university partnerships. We have delivered on our efficiency targets in 2018. Going forward, we expect to deliver further efficiency gains, primarily through growing the scale of the portfolio under management."

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Joe Lister, Chief Financial Officer

Tel: +44 117 302 7005

Candice Macdonald, Head of Corporate Communications

Tel: +44 7525 592521

Powerscourt, PR adviser to Unite

Justin Griffiths, Alison Watson or Mazar Masud

Tel: +44 207 250 1446

unite@powerscourt-group.com 

Notes to Editors:

About Unite Students

Unite Students is the UK's largest manager and developer of purpose-built student accommodation serving the country's world-leading higher education sector. We currently provide homes for 50,000 students in more than 120 properties across 22 leading university towns and cities in England and Scotland. Unite also has a strong development pipeline, which will deliver a further 6,000 beds in the next three years. 

Our 1,450 people are driven by a common purpose: to provide the students who live with us a 'Home for Success' and to be the most trusted brand in the sector. We do this through great service, great people and great properties, all designed on the basis of an unrivalled insight into students' needs and preferences.

Unite's accommodation is high quality, safe and secure, and located close to university campuses, transport links and local amenities. Students live predominantly in en-suite study bedrooms with rents covering all bills, insurance, 24-hour security, fortnightly cleaning services and high-speed Wi-Fi. MyUnite, our mobile app, provides practical support such as instant messaging and maintenance requests.

Our commitment to customer service is powered by an innovative, in-house operating platform. It provides a wide range of benefits to our students, such as an optimised online booking process, as well as providing us with a unique ability to drive value from our portfolio through scale efficiencies and revenue management.

Alongside delivering great service, our other strategic priority is delivering growing and sustainable earnings, underpinned by a strong capital structure. A key part of this strategy is growing the number of beds let though partnerships with mid and high tariff universities which are experiencing record levels of student demand. We currently partner with 60 higher education institutions, guaranteeing that approximately 60% of our rooms are let under multi-year, 'nomination agreements' providing high visibility of forward occupancy and rental growth.

Unite is invested in and operates two specialist funds and joint ventures with institutional investment partners: the £2 billion Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund (USAF), and the £1 billion London Student Accommodation Vehicle (LSAV).

Unite is the founder of and major donor to the Unite Foundation, a charitable trust established to support talented students facing challenging financial circumstances through the provision of free accommodation annual scholarships. The Foundation has so far provided scholarships for 250 young people working in close collaboration with 28 universities.

Founded in 1991 in Bristol, Unite Group is an award-winning Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), listed on the London Stock Exchange and a member of the FTSE 250 Index.

For more information, please visit Unite's corporate website www.unite-group.co.uk, the student site www.unite-students.com or the Unite Foundation www.unitefoundation.co.uk.