Yew Grove REIT plc (LON:YEW), the AIM and Euronext Growth listed regional Irish commercial property investor, today announced its preliminary unaudited results for the year ended 31 December 2019.
| 31/12/2019 | 31/12/2018 | Change from prior period | ||
| Portfolio valuation (€ million) | 115.79 | 77.92 | +49% | |
| Contracted rent (€ million) | 8.91 | 6.30 | +41% | |
| Reversionary rent (€ million) | 10.09 | 6.80 | +48% | |
| Occupancy | 92.5% | 97% | -5% | |
| WAULT to expiry (years) | 8.1 | 7.4 | +0.7 | |
| WAULT to break (years) | 4.6 | 4.9 | -0.3 | |
| Net rental income (€ million) | 9.42 | 2.56 | +267% | |
| IFRS NAV (€ million) | 109.92 | 75.13 | +46% | |
| Profit after Tax (€ million) | 5.06 | 2.33 | +117% | |
| EPRA earnings (€ million) | 5.70 | 0.72 | +687% | |
| IFRS NAV per share (€ cents) | 98.52 | 100.18 | -1.7% | |
| EPRA NAV per share (€ cents) | 98.52 | 100.18 | -1.7% | |
| Basic EPS (€ cents) | 6.24 | 4.08 | +53% | |
| EPRA EPS (€ cents) | 7.03 | 1.23 | +472% | |
| DPS (€ million) | 5.58 | 0.72 | +672% | |
| DPS per share (€ cents) | 6.75 | 0.96 | +603% | |
| EPRA EPS paid as dividends | 97.9% | 99.8% | -2% |
Financial highlights
· Net rental income increased 267% from prior period, EPRA earnings increased by 687%. Expenditure excluding financing remained below 2018 run rate.
· Total dividends of 6.75c per share fully covered by EPRA earnings.
· 100 million share issuance programme opened, €35.8 million proceeds raised across two equity issuance tranches with strong support from new and existing holders.
· €39.5 million deployed on new property purchases in the period, increasing portfolio value by 49%. Equity proceeds raised in the year were committed within two weeks of receipt by the Company.
· €9.1 million debt facility increase. Modest period end LTV of 18%, €8.3 million of facilities undrawn at period end.
· EPRA NAV was impacted by purchase and share issuance costs through period of significant portfolio growth, and as a result of commercial property stamp duty changes announced in H2 2019. Like for like property value increased by 5.3%.
Operational highlights
· Property portfolio grew from €77.9 million to €115.8 million.
· Contracted rent grew by 41% and reversionary rent by 48% enhancing current and future rental income
· Occupancy remains strong at 92.5%, the Company continues to focus on high credit quality tenants. Revenue exceeded contracted rent due to lease surrender proceeds of €2 million.
· WAULT to expiry extended to 8.1 years and WAULT to break shortened to 4.6 years so the Company can take advantage of earlier rent reviews and breaks on reversionary properties to capture upside.
· Exit 2019 with an acquisition pipeline of c. €120, with target assets in line with the Company’s investment policy
Post year end highlights
· Company’s revolving debt facility increased by €20 million.
· Purchase of six office buildings at Millennium Park for a total consideration of €27.4 million completed at a blended NIY of 5.8%.
· Contracted rent rose to €10.6 million and portfolio value to €141.1 million.
Jonathan Laredo, Chief Executive Officer, commented:
“Since our IPO less than two years ago we have successfully built a strong portfolio of diversified and differentiated Irish commercial property offering attractive yields. In 2019 we continued to raise and deploy capital judiciously, using our early mover advantage to selectively acquire a mix of individual assets and portfolios that fit with our investment strategy. Our reversionary portfolio and asset management efforts will seek to capture further income and value from our existing portfolio while our target market continues to offer opportunities for us to further expand our footprint outside the Dublin CBD at below replacement cost. We have a strong pipeline of attractive acquisition opportunities and we continue to review further investments.
“The Company is considering its funding options for financing its pipeline of acquisition opportunities, which could include using its existing share issuance programme later this year, together with debt finance where appropriate.
“We remain confident in the fundamentals of our business and its continued success in 2020. The current negotiations about Irish government formation have created some political uncertainty which is expected to be resolved in the second quarter of the year. The Irish economy again performed strongly in 2019 and the outlook for 2020 looks positive. Despite this we acknowledge the seriousness of the Covid-19 outbreaks and will continue to monitor the situation closely.”
