Major property landlord reports ‘continuous improvement’ in rent collections
Real Estate Investors (REI), the listed Birmingham-based Real Estate Investment Trust, has said its rent collection figures for previous and current quarters are showing “further continuous improvement”.
Updated rent collection for the March quarter (March-June) is now 93.44% (adjusted for monthly and deferred agreements) up from 90.68% reported on 21 September, 90.16% reported on 15 July and 81% reported on 15 June.
June quarter (June-September) rent collection has now risen to 90.23% (adjusted for monthly and deferred agreements), up from 86.87% reported on 21 September and 81.94% % reported on 15 July.
September quarter (September-December) rent collection is so far 89.92% (adjusted for monthly and deferred agreements).
REI has a portfolio of 1.59m sq ft of investment property across all sectors.
REI chief executive Paul Bassi said: “We continue to be in supportive dialogue with a number of tenants and anticipate that unpaid rents will be received from these tenants as they become able to commence normalised trading again.
“There also remain a number of tenants that continue to delay paying and are taking full advantage of government restrictions on landlords. These tenants have the ability to pay but are refusing to do so while these rules are in force, though some of them have now engaged in a dialogue and have agreed settlement arrangements.
“We remain confident of recovering these outstanding rents or being able to reach an agreed solution.”
He added that REI’s current occupancy level across the portfolio is 93% and year to date the firm has secured 23 “positive lease events”.
Bassi added: “As we mentioned in September, a somewhat normal pattern of trading has been enjoyed by a large proportion of our occupiers for the last few months, with our neighbourhood and convenience retail portfolio in particular showing resilience and strong performance.
“Our office portfolio, which is almost entirely out of town, continues to see improved demand as occupiers seek to provide a safe and convenient environment for their employees without the need for unnecessary use of public transport or city centre commutes.
“We anticipate strong ongoing demand and the potential for rental growth and capital appreciation.”
He confirmed that REI has continued to make quarterly, fully covered dividend payments of 0.50p.
“The board will reflect on the strength of the trading performance for the year and make a final dividend payment accordingly, complying with our REIT payment obligations,” he said.
The share buyback programme was formally announced on 20 October 2020 and REI anticipates buying back the company’s ordinary shares with an aggregate market value of up to £2m by 31 December.
Bassi said: “REI management’s experience and proactive approach to asset management and the ongoing strategy to operate a diversified portfolio has supported our robust levels of occupancy and rent collection.”
“We also remain confident that occupier demand for our assets will continue and we are mindful that the current environment may create opportunistic sales and acquisitions for the group.”
