REG - Primary Health Props - AGM Trading Update

Primary Health PropertiesAnnouncement

Today 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
https://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20260429:nRSc2815Ca&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 2815C  Primary Health Properties PLC  29 April 2026

29 April 2026

Primary Health Properties PLC

AGM Trading Update

Continued progress on delivery of strategic objectives and improving rental
growth

Primary Health Properties PLC ("PHP", the "Group" or the "Company"), the UK's
leading investor in critical healthcare infrastructure, today publishes a
trading update for the first quarter of the year to 31 March 2026 ahead of its
AGM later today.

Mark Davies, CEO of PHP, commented:

"The first quarter of 2026 was a strong start to the year, with a continued
focus on asset management and risk-controlled development, with organic rental
growth from the enlarged portfolio's rent reviews delivering an extra £3
million of income, an increase of c.6% or 3.4% on an annualised basis (up from
3.2% in 2025).

"We have continued to make excellent progress on the delivery of the post
Assura combination objectives, since we announced PHP's latest results in
March. These include reducing leverage back to our target range of 40% to 50%,
net debt/EBITDA below 9.5x, delivering £9 million of annualised cost
synergies and integrating the two businesses, all of which we expect to
complete ahead of schedule. We have made considerable progress in the period
in establishing a new vehicle for our private hospital portfolio."

Improving rental growth

The Company continues to see an improving rental growth outlook, especially
from rent reviews, with an extra £3 million of income generated in the
quarter from 199 completed reviews. This represents a total increase of c.6%
over the previous rent of £54 million, equivalent to 3.4% (2025: 3.2%) on an
annualised basis. All parts of the enlarged portfolio are performing very well
with Primary Care UK at +2.9%, Private Hospitals +3.7% and Ireland +4.4%.

We continue to see opportunities to drive more growth and efficiencies in the
enlarged portfolio and the annualised contracted rent roll now stands at £345
million (2025: £342 million).

Establishment of a new strategic private hospital vehicle to reduce gearing

We have made considerable progress in establishing a new vehicle for our
private hospital portfolio, and are on track with our previously reported
plans to deliver a transaction that will reduce our gearing and act as an
alternative source of capital and growth for the future. A shortlist of
potential counterparties is engaged and the Board is focused on selecting a
partner and structure that will deliver the optimum shareholder value for the
future. We are confident that a transaction will be announced during the
summer of 2026.

The transfer of a further £103 million of assets into our existing primary
care joint venture continues to progress through legal due diligence and we
expect this to complete on schedule before the end of July 2026.

Cost synergies

We continue to make good progress on the delivery of the £9 million cost
saving target and have recently commenced a rationalisation programme aimed at
rightsizing the enlarged Group. To date, £7.8 million of annualised cost
saving synergies, or 87% of our target, have now been delivered.

Development pipeline and Neighbourhood Health Centres

The Department of Health and Social Care announced the first wave of
Neighbourhood Health Centres ("NHC") at the end of March 2026. NHCs are
intended to improve patient access, bringing additional health services closer
to people's homes and provide a wider range of services in the community. The
initial wave, of which three are existing PHP assets, provides investment in
existing buildings to increase capacity, and we will work with the NHS to
deliver these development and asset management opportunities. The full NHC
programme targets delivery of 250 centres by 2035, and we continue to engage
with the NHS and the Government on future opportunities.

PHP is currently on site with six development schemes; two UK primary care
centres within the existing joint venture with USS, three schemes in Ireland
and one private hospital. All schemes remain on track for completion during
2026 and 2027 and to deliver attractive returns.

We continue to monitor a number of potential development opportunities with a
pipeline across primary care in both the UK and Ireland and private
hospitals. These will only be progressed if accretive to earnings and they
deliver the appropriate risk adjusted returns to shareholders.

Dividend

On 11 March 2026, the Company declared its second quarterly interim dividend
of 1.825p per Ordinary Share which will be paid on 8 May 2026 to shareholders
who were on the share register at the close of business on 27 March 2026. The
dividend will be paid by way of a property income distribution of 1.325
pence and normal dividend of 0.5 pence. The dividend is equivalent to 7.3
pence on an annualised basis, representing a 2.8% increase over dividends paid
in 2025, and marks the 30(th) year of consecutive dividend growth for PHP.

The Company intends to maintain its strategy of paying a progressive dividend,
in equal quarterly instalments, covered by adjusted earnings in each financial
year. Further dividend payments are planned to be made in August and November
2026 which are expected to comprise a mixture of both PID and normal dividend.

Annual General Meeting ("AGM")

The 2026 AGM of the Company is being held today, 29 April 2026, at the offices
of CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP, Cannon Place, 78 Cannon Street,
London EC4N 6AF at 10:30 a.m. (UK time) / 11.30 a.m. (South Africa time). At
the meeting, shareholders will be able to engage with the Directors who will
answer any questions and provide their thoughts on our performance and
strategy. Further details of the AGM including the Notice of Annual General
Meeting can be found on the Company's website www.phpgroup.co.uk
(http://www.phpgroup.co.uk) .

 

- ENDS -

For further information contact:

 Mark Davies                                                             Richard Howell

 CEO                                                                     CFO

 Primary Health Properties PLC                                           Primary Health Properties PLC

 David Purcell                                                           Sodali & Co

 Investor Relations                                                      Financial PR

 Primary Health Properties PLC                                           Elly Williamson/Louisa Henry/Saskia Bottomley

 T: +44 (0) 7921 190 136                                                 T: +44 (0) 207 250 1446

 E: david.purcell@phpgroup.co.uk (mailto:david.purcell@phpgroup.co.uk)   E: PHP@client.sodali.com (mailto:PHP@client.sodali.com)

 

 

 

Notes to editors

PHP is the UK's leading investor in modern healthcare infrastructure with a
£6 billion portfolio invested in critical social assets across the UK and
Ireland. The portfolio benefits from highly resilient operating metrics in a
sector with strong fundamental demographic characteristics, supported by a
positive political backdrop and the need for greater investment in healthcare
infrastructure to support the delivery of services in local communities.

In 2025, PHP combined with Assura to create the UK's largest healthcare REIT
placing the enlarged Group in the top quartile of the London Stock Exchange
FTSE 250 index with the additional benefits of significantly increased share
liquidity, investor reach and a lower cost of capital. PHP's unique portfolio,
strong platform with a robust balance sheet and a disciplined focus rental
growth and cost control supports our 30-year track record of paying an
increased progressive dividend.

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  TSTPPUQPCUPQGQR



            Copyright 2019 Regulatory News Service, all rights reserved