Assura plc (“Assura”), the leading primary care property investor and developer, announces its half year results for the six months ended 30 September 2016:
Continued growth of portfolio, rents and profit
• 75.2% increase in underlying profit1 before tax to £19.8 million (2015: £11.3 million)
• 10.6% increase in investment property, to £1.2 billion (March 2016: £1.1 billion)
• 3.1% growth in diluted EPRA NAV per share to 47.2 pence (March 2016: 45.8 pence)
• 9.9% increase in rent roll to £70.1 million (March 2016: £63.8 million)
• £41.7 million profit before tax (2015: £35.4 million)
Strong balance sheet and cost of debt reducing
• £200 million new unsecured revolving credit facility signed at initial margin of 150bps
• Weighted average cost of debt reduced by 56bps to 4.28% (March 2016: 4.84%)
• Post period end, £100 million notes US private placement agreed at 2.65% fixed for 10 years
Sector leader in a market that is in critical need of investment
• Growing consensus that primary care must play a bigger role in health provision
• Significant historical underinvestment in primary care space, many GP premises not currently fit for purpose
• NHS England’s “General Practice Forward View”, announced in April 2016, further emphasises need for
appropriate primary care infrastructure and premises
Well positioned to help alleviate the pressures on primary care infrastructure
• Strong pipeline with £131 million of acquisitions and developments
• Current LTV of 34% provides £235 million of investment capacity before reaching the mid-point of our LTV range of 40%-50%, allowing Assura to move quickly as the right investment opportunities arise
• Scalable, internally managed operating model, with in-house development capability
• Group operates in fragmented market: portfolio of 363 medical centres compares to a total UK market of close to 9,000 buildings
Dividend
• 9% increase in quarterly dividend from January 2017 to 0.60 pence per share Jonathan Murphy, Interim CEO, said:
“Assura has grown significantly in the first half of the year, reflecting the benefit of completed developments and acquisitions. The Group is well positioned as a sector leader in a market that is in critical need of investment. There is a growing consensus that primary care must play a bigger role in health provision and the Group is ideally placed with the expertise, scale and financial flexibility to help the NHS develop our nation’s primary care infrastructure.”
