Assura in good health after decent end to 2023
Healthcare property specialist Assura has a healthy pipeline of opportunities and a steady rent roll from its existing portfolio, the company said in a trading update to the stock market this morning.
The Altrincham headquartered company has a portfolio of 612 properties across the UK and Ireland with an annualised rent roll of £148.6 million.
It has revealed that 46 rent reviews settled in the quarter, covering £3.8 million of existing rent and generating an uplift of £0.6 million.
Assura is currently on site with nine developments; these have a remaining spend over the next 18 months of £36 million of a total cost of £91 million (September 2023: 10 on site, £114 million total cost).
Financially, a revolving credit facility has been refinanced and increased available capital to £200 million, reducing the overall cost to the business. Net debt stands at £1,214 million on a fully unsecured basis with cash and undrawn facilities of £238 million.
Jonathan Murphy, chief executive, said: “Assura has delivered another quarter of disciplined activity to further enhance our growing portfolio, with our market-leading position and strong balance sheet seeing us well-placed for the long-term.
“Alongside completing two asset enhancement projects in the period, we continued to leverage our proven track record and market expertise to respond to distinct challenges and provide quality capacity for services in a community setting. We see opportunities to respond to this healthcare challenge by developing for private providers, working directly with NHS Trusts and mental health services as well as bringing our expertise to the Irish market.
“We completed a state-of-the-art cancer treatment centre in Guildford which will provide highly advanced oncology treatments to both NHS and private patients; and moved on site to double the size of our community care centre in Castlebar, Ireland – a market for which we have three schemes in our immediate development pipeline.
“The need for high-quality, sustainable healthcare buildings in a community setting is unabated, and Assura remains best-placed to meet the demands of an ageing population and growing pressures on the health system at a time when one-third of the UK’s current GP estate is in need of replacement.”
