REI tops £20m in property sales in 2022
Real Estate Investors plc (REI), the Midlands-focused property investor, has announced disposals of more than £20m in 2022.
The proceeds have been used to pay down £17m of debt so far this year, and the company’s loan to value is now 38.3%, down from 40.2% in June.
REI also revealed that, as well as reducing debt, certain services will no longer be needed in line with the reduction in portfolio size with the company is looking to target up to £300,000 of savings in the financial year 2023.
The firm has agreed a 5% wage increase for all full-time staff but the CEO and financial director have declined to receive any increase.
Chief executive Paul Bassi said: “We have seen an accelerated sales rate from our planned disposals that has allowed us to reduce our debt by over £17 million and fund a share buyback of £2 million.
“Continued sales to capitalise on private and overseas investor demand will allow us to reduce our borrowings further and consider additional share buyback programmes – subject to market conditions.
“We anticipate improved occupancy which will reduce our void costs and improve our revenue, supporting our covered dividend payments, whilst growing our net tangible assets per share.”
He reported that despite widespread economic instability and negative market sentiment, private investor and overseas investors have remained active in the property market throughout H2 2022 to date.
REI confirms a quarterly dividend of 0.4375p per share for the third quarter of 2022.
A final dividend is to be announced in March 2023 and is expected to stand at 2.5p per share for the financial year 2022 and an expected yield of 7.87%.
