Leicester property investor doubles profits

Custodian REIT, the listed Leicester commercial real estate investment company, has more than doubled its profits over the last 12 months.

In a statement, the firm said profits for the year-ending 31 March were £24.2m – up from £11.2m in 2016.

Custodian REIT’s portfolio is now worth £415.8m – up from £319m a year ago.

David Hunter, chairman of Custodian REIT, said: “I am pleased to report that Custodian REIT has continued to deliver strong shareholder returns with NAV per share total return of 8.5% (2016: 6.4%) for the year. We invested a total of £105m on the completion of 25 acquisitions and one ongoing pre-let development, funded by £92.4m raised from the issue of new shares and £25m of new term debt.

“I anticipate that occupational demand combined with a limited supply of new development will continue to drive rental growth across regional markets, supporting a low vacancy rate and securing dividends and long-term capital growth for the company’s shareholders.

“The company has met its target of paying an annual dividend per share for the year of 6.35p [2016: 6.25p, 2015: 5.25p], 101% covered by net recurring income. Our objective is to grow the dividend on a sustainable basis at a rate which is fully covered by projected net rental income, and the Board is pleased to have increased the target dividend for the year ending 31 March 2018 by 1.6% to 6.45p per share.”