Assura confident in its prospects

Warrington based health care real estate investment trust (REIT) Assura said it remains confident in its outlook for the year in a trading update today.

Covering the first quarter to June 30, the company said it continued to make progress, increasing the size of its pipeline by £73m to £225m, made up of acquisitions of £162m and £63m of developments.

“In addition to growing the pipeline we completed the acquisition of six medical centres and two developments at a combined cost of £23m. The additions have a combined passing rent of £1.2m and a weighted average unexpired lease length of 19.9 years,” the statement said.

Assura now owns 525 medical centres with a total annualised rent roll of £92.3m, compated with £91m at March 31, with growth in the financial year to date driven primarily by acquisitions.

In the reporting period the firm has agreed an additional £100m unsecured revolving facility with Barclays Bank and HSBC on the same terms as an existing facility, taking its overall revolving facilities to £400m.

As at June 30, gross debt stood at £510m, with undrawn facilities of £250m.

Chief executive Jonathan Murphy said: “We have continued to deploy capital in the first quarter and identify new opportunities to grow the pipeline which can all be funded from current facilities.

“We remain confident in the outlook for the year.”