REG - Warehouse REIT PLC - Trading Update

Warehouse ReitAnnouncement

30/03/2023 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20230330:nRSd6851Ua&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 6851U  Warehouse REIT PLC  30 March 2023

30 March 2023

 

Warehouse REIT progresses disposal strategy with £54.7 million of sales

 

Disposals, active management and robust UK warehouse tenant demand has
increased portfolio occupancy to 95.9%, up from 92.7%

 

Warehouse REIT ("the Company"), the industrial warehouse investor, announces
continued progress delivering on its strategy to capture the inbuilt reversion
across its 8.3 million sq ft portfolio, whilst also recycling proceeds through
sales to pay down its overall level of debt.

 

Asset Disposals

In line with its strategy, the Company has recently concluded the sale of two
distribution estates totalling 269,000 per sq ft, for £29.5 million,
generating an ungeared IRR of 9%.

 

The disposals comprise:

·    12 Exeter Way, Theale, a vacant 92,000 sq ft warehouse with a high
office component, acquired by an owner occupier for £15.0 million.

·    Temple House, Harlow, for £14.5 million. The asset has been sold
ahead of a potential vacancy and capital expenditure costs, following the
receipt of notice to break from the main tenant in March 2023.

 

These disposals, in addition to the £13.9 million of sales announced at the
half year results on 8 November 2022, have been augmented by another £11.3
million of smaller asset sales, taking total H2 disposals to £54.7 million.

 

Asset Management

Additionally, reflecting the robustness of the UK occupational market, the
Company has reduced portfolio vacancy through active asset management
initiatives and disposals, increasing the portfolio occupancy to 95.9% (as at
28 February 2023), from 92.7% (as at 7 November 2022).

 

Significant transactions include Midpoint 18, where the Company has exchanged
on a new 10-year lease with a 5 year break, on previously vacant commercial
space, to Inhealth Intelligence, a leading software provider of information
management solutions for the UK healthcare sector, generating rent of £0.2
million per annum. Midpoint 18 is strategically located near the M6 motorway
in Cheshire and totals c. 600,000 sq ft of multi and single tenant space.

 

Separately, the Company has also completed the construction, for £3.9
million, of an open storage scheme on surplus land at Midpoint 18. Brit
European, an international specialist logistics occupier, has agreed a 15 year
lease for the purpose built facility, generating £0.3m per annum of rent.
Brit European is being relocated from the Company's nearby Radway Green
Estate, facilitating vacant possession and advancing the wider redevelopment.

 

Paul Makin, Investment Director of the Investment Advisor, Tilstone Partners
Limited, commented:

"We continue to make strong progress on delivering on the Company's strategy
to minimise vacancy, capture the portfolio's inbuilt reversion and reduce
debt. We have taken advantage of continued investor demand for exposure to the
sector by arranging for the Company to undertake two further opportunistic
disposals of assets requiring significant capital expenditure, simultaneously
demonstrating the ongoing liquidity of the Company's real estate. In total,
the Company has completed £54.7 million of sales during H2.

 

"Occupationally, the UK logistics market remains robust, evidenced by the
progress on increasing occupation across the portfolio.  The transactions at
Midpoint 18 also demonstrate the acute shortage of good quality accommodation
in the North West market, as well as the benefits of the locations of the
Company's assets, close to key infrastructure and employment hubs."

 

-End-

 

Enquiries:

Warehouse REIT plc

via FTI Consulting

 

Tilstone Partners Limited

Andrew Bird, Paul Makin, Peter Greenslade

+44 (0) 1244 470 090

 

G10 Capital Limited (part of the IQEQ Group, AIFM)

Maria Glew

+44 (0) 207 397 5450

 

FTI Consulting (Financial PR & IR Adviser to the Company)

Dido Laurimore, Richard Gotla

+44 (0) 7904 122207 / WarehouseReit@fticonsulting.com
(mailto:WarehouseReit@fticonsulting.com)

 

Further information on Warehouse REIT is available on its website:

http://www.warehousereit.co.uk (http://www.warehousereit.co.uk/)

 

About Warehouse REIT

 

Warehouse REIT plc invests in and manages urban and 'last-mile' industrial
warehouse assets.

 

Our purpose is to own and manage warehouses in economically vibrant urban
areas across the UK, providing the space our occupiers need for their
businesses to thrive.

 

As we grow, our vision is to become the UK's warehouse provider of choice.

 

The Company is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange and is
an alternative investment fund ("AIF") for the purposes of the AIFM Directive
and as such is required to have an investment manager who is duly authorised
to undertake the role of an alternative investment fund manager. The
Investment Manager is currently G10 Capital Limited.

 

 

 

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  TSTNKCBDOBKDCNB