City round-up: Tatton Asset Management; Together Financial Services; OTAQ; Regional REIT

AIM-listed investment management and IFA support services business, Tatton Asset Management, unveiled improved interim results for the six-month period ended September 30, 2024, today.

The Wilmslow-based group reported unaudited revenues of £21.660m, up from £17.506m the previous year. An unaudited pre-tax profit of £10.102m was up from £7.693m in 2023.

The interim dividend is proposed to rise by 18% to 9.5p per share, up from 8p previously.

The group said it has a strong financial liquidity position, with net cash of £26.916m, compared with £24.838m a year ago, and a strong balance sheet, with net assets of £47.386m.

Assets Under Management/Influence (AUM/I3) increased 34.9% to £19.948bn (Sep 2023: £14.784bn). AUM/I at March 31, 2024, were £17.604bn, an annualised increase of 26.6%.

Organic net inflows were £1.832bn (Sep 2023: £0.910bn), an annualised increase of 22.1% of opening AUM with an average run rate of £305m per month.

The reporting period also saw the launch of a new range of Passive funds following demand from Tatton’s IFAs (independent financial advisors).

Chief executive, Paul Hogarth, said: “We have delivered record net inflows of £1.8bn in the first half of the year, which is an exceptional achievement for Tatton and I could not be more delighted.

“Our record organic net inflows, driven by our strong proposition, consistent investment performance and market leading service have underpinned our performance in this period.

“We continue to deliver against our strategic objectives, positioning the business for long term growth on an organic basis and we remain well positioned to execute our New Roadmap to Growth target of £30bn AUM/I by March 2029.”

He added: “Looking to the future, the IFA sector remains in good health and we will continue to seek further opportunities to support the IFA community through creating a more holistic approach to our long term relationships.

“More widely, assets on platform continue to grow, but importantly, the Model Portfolio Service proposition continues to be a strategic growth driver within the wealth management sector, all of which help to support our long term growth ambitions.

“Paradigm continues to deliver stable and robust results given the wider UK economy and political changes seen in the period.”

He said: “Macro and geopolitical uncertainty remains; however, I am confident that Tatton’s strong foundations will support our continued consistent growth.

“While our net inflows in this period have been exceptional, we expect them to return to more normal levels of c.£200m per month as we move into the second half of the year.

“The board is confident in the future prospects of the group, and we remain on track to meet the board’s expectations for the full year.”

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Together HQ

Cheadle-based specialist property lender, Together Financial Services, has upsized its revolving Lakeside securitisation programme (LABS) from £825m to £1bn.

Its maturity has also been extended to November 2028, commercial terms improved and a new bank added into the facility.

LABS, which primarily supports the group’s unregulated and regulated bridging lending, was first launched in 2015 as a £255m revolving securitisation facility.

The facility has since increased to £500m in 2019, £700m in 2022, and further increased to £825m in 2023.

Gary Beckett, Group Managing Director and Chief Treasury Officer of Together, said: “The completion of yet another successful upsizing of our LABS securitisation, on improved commercial terms, reflects the continued strength of Together’s business and the long term support of our funding partners.

“The refinance adds further liquidity and depth of maturity to our funding structure as Together continues to help increasing numbers of customers to realise their property ambitions.”

Together has a diverse and mature funding structure encompassing 12 public and six private securitisation facilities, two series of senior secured notes and a revolving credit facility.

This calendar year, Together has raised or refinanced more than £3.3bn of facilities across seven transactions.

Together will be announcing its Q1 results for the quarter to September 30, 2024, on November 21, 2024.

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Marine technology company OTAQ, which targets the aquaculture and offshore markets, has warned the market this morning that their strong pipeline of new orders are taking longer to convert and are now not expected to be completed until FY25. 

As a result the revenues for the current financial year will be below current market forecasts.

The Offshore division, is continuing to work on a number of existing and significant new orders and sales for the division in FY24 will be in line with management expectations.  However the Aquaculture division has seen existing customers and new sales prospects defer the decision to place firm orders.

The Lancaster-headquartered company is evaluating further potential cost savings including seeking shareholders’ approval to withdraw the company’s shares from trading on the AQSE Growth Market. 

Phil Newby, Chief Executive Officer commented: “We are encouraged by the pipeline of new opportunities across the group. While conversion of these opportunities is often more protracted than we would hope, and the outturn for the current financial year is uncertain, OTAQ’s strong relationship with our core customer base means that the prospects for next year are encouraging.”

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Stephen Inglis

The board of property fund Regional REIT are continuing to focus on a “controlled disposal programme” that will reposition the property portfolio to capture “accretive opportunities from increasingly undertaking the planning consent activities”.

A third quarter trading update revealed a successful £110.5m equity fund raise, which enabled the repayment of a £50m retail bond, and of the remaining net proceeds: £26.3m is in the process of being used to reduce bank facilities; and £28.4m will be used.

Since 1 January 2024, 55 leases have been signed with new tenants totalling 161,668 sq. ft. providing £2.6m per annum of rental income when fully occupied. Of this total, 11 leases have been exchanged since 30 June 2024, totalling 39,536 sq. ft. and will provide £0.5m of additional rental income.

Stephen Inglis, Head of ESR Europe LSPIM, Asset Manager commented: “The Group continued to trade well, achieving strong rent collection and lease retention for the quarter, with an average rental income uplift of 9.3% for the year to 30 September 2024, against a backdrop of uncertain market conditions.

“The deployment of the capital raise proceeds into capital accretive projects has commenced at a pace with eight projects in course for a total investment of £15.0m. We have already completed the full refurbishment project at Ashby Park, Ashby De La Zouch leading to a new 10-year lease generating £0.5m pa rental income. We look forward to providing further updates on accretive capital expenditure projects.”