REGIONAL REIT Limited
(“Regional REIT”, the “Group” or the “Company”)
2021 Year-End Portfolio Valuation, Q4 Dividend and Letting Update
98.6% Rent Collection for 2021
Regional REIT (LSE: RGL), the regional office specialist, is today pleased to announce its portfolio valuation as at 31 December 2021, Q4 2021 dividend declaration, trading update and a positive rent collection update.
Full Year 2021 Portfolio Valuation
- Significant increase in the portfolio valuation to £906.1m (2020: 732.4m) following the £236.0m portfolio acquisition made in Q3 2021
- The like-for-like value of the portfolio increased by 1.1% in 2021 after adjusting for capital expenditure, acquisitions and disposals during the period
- Gross rent roll increased substantially overall to £72.1m (2020: £64.2m); ERV £94.6m (2020: £76.6m)
- 168 properties (2020: 153); 1,077 occupiers (2020: 898)
- Further good progress in portfolio rotation with offices (by value) at 89.8% of the portfolio (2020: 83.5%), industrials 5.1% (2020: 11.1%), retail 3.7% (2020: 4.1%), and Other 1.4% (2020: 1.3%)
- England & Wales (by value) represented 81.0% (2020: 82.7%) of the portfolio with the remainder in Scotland
- EPRA Occupancy (by ERV) at 81.8% (2020: 89.4%). As expected, EPRA Occupancy was impacted by the 236.0m portfolio acquisition made in Q3 2021. Asset management plans are in place to improve occupancy.
- Average lot size c. 5.4m (2020: c. 4.8m)
- Net loan-to-value ratio was 42.4% (2020: 40.8%)
Rent Collection 2021 Update
As at 16 February 2022, Q1 2021 collections amounted to 99.3%, Q2 2021 to 99.5% and Q3 2021 to 99.1%. Currently, Q4 2021 rent collection, adjusting for monthly rent and agreed collection plans, stands at 96.6%, which is in line with the equivalent period in 2020 when 96.0% had been collected. The total rent collection for 2021 is currently at 98.6% compared with 97.7% at this time last year.
|
% |
Q1 2021 |
Q2 2021 |
Q3 2021 |
Q4 2021 |
YTD |
|
Rent paid |
98.5 |
98.2 |
97.6 |
94.4 |
97.1 |
|
Adjusted for monthly rents |
0.0 |
0.1 |
0.5 |
1.1 |
0.4 |
|
Agreed collections plans |
0.7 |
1.2 |
1.0 |
1.2 |
1.0 |
|
|
99.3 |
99.5 |
99.1 |
96.6 |
98.6 |
Table may not sum due to roundings.
Quarterly rental collection refers to all invoices issued during the calendar quarters:
Q1: 1 January 2021 to 31 March 2021
Q2: 1 April 2021 to 30 June 2021
Q3: 1 July 2021 to 30 September 2021
Q4: 1 October 2021 to 31 December 2021
The Company remains in supportive and ongoing discussions with occupiers regarding the balance of the outstanding rent and expects to collect the vast majority in due course.
Q4 2021 Dividend
As previously indicated, the Company will pay a dividend of 1.70 pence per share (“pps”) for the period 1 October 2021 to 31 December 2021 (1 October 2020 to 31 December 2020: 1.50pps), which amounts to a total dividend of 6.5pps for 2021 (2020: 6.4pps) and equates to an annualised dividend yield of c7.4% at the closing price per share on 23 February 2022. The entire dividend will be paid as a REIT property income distribution (“PID”).
The Company has introduced the option for shareholders to invest their dividend in a Dividend Reinvestment Plan (“DRIP”). More details can be found on the Company's website https://www.regionalreit.com/investors/investors-dividend/dividend-reinvestment-plan .
The key dates relating to this dividend are given below:
|
Ex-dividend date |
03 March 2022 |
|
Record date |
04 March 2022 |
|
Last day for DRIP election |
18 March 2022 |
|
Payment date |
08 April 2022 |
Stephen Inglis, CEO of London and Scottish Property Investment Management, the Asset Manager, commented:
“We are pleased to report a very robust performance from the property portfolio in what is an unsettled environment for the office sector. For shareholders, the Company has delivered on its targeted distribution for the year of 6.5 pence per share, equating to a yield of 7.4 per cent on the current share price. In the meantime, we today provide a further positive rent collection update with collections of 98.6% for 2021.
We believe the office is an essential aspect of the working infrastructure and that the sector is poised for a recovery. We have therefore rotated the portfolio to have a higher percentage of assets invested in regional offices. We expect future office trends to include a de-densification of office space and increasing demand for quality regional space, all of which should benefit the Company's portfolio.”