Preliminary Results for the Year to 31 March 2015

RNS Number : 4374O
Helical Bar PLC
28 May 2015
 

28 May 2015

HELICAL BAR PLC

("Helical" or the "Group" or the "Company")

Unaudited Preliminary Results for the Year to 31 March 2015

EXCELLENT RETURNS TAKE HELICAL'S PORTFOLIO OVER £1BN

 

Michael Slade, Chief Executive, commented:

"Our strategy of investing and developing in London whilst maintaining a high yielding regional investment programme continues to bear fruit. We expect our London portfolio to continue to provide significant surpluses over the next few years as rental levels grow and we complete and let our development schemes. In the regions, we have completed our rotation out of secondary shopping centres and into high yielding distribution warehouses, regional offices and out-of-town retail parks. We have seen good demand from occupiers for the assets in our portfolio and strong interest in those types of assets from institutions. This is leading to a rise in both rental and capital values as the UK economy strengthens outside London.

 

With the General Election behind us we can look forward with confidence to a more stable domestic political situation, which should help the UK economy to grow, and we anticipate providing shareholders with continued strong growth in the value of our business."

 

Financial Highlights

 

Another excellent financial performance

·  EPRA net asset value per share up 23% to 385p (2014: 313p).

·  Profit before tax of £87.4m (2014: £101.7m).

·  Total Property Return up 11% to £155.3m (2014: £140.1m).

-       Group's share of net rental income up 30% to £38.6m (2014: £29.8m).

-       Development profits of £17.6m (2014: £65.0m).

-       Trading profits of £2.5m (2014: £0.3m).

-       Net gain on sale and revaluation of investment properties of £96.6m (2014: £45.0m).

·  Final dividend proposed of 5.15p (2014: 4.75p) per share, increasing the total dividend by 7.4% to 7.25p (2014: 6.75p).

 

Growing capital returns

·  Group's share of property portfolio £1,021m (2014: £802m).

·  Unleveraged return of property portfolio as measured by IPD of 20.4% (2014: 23.8%) compared to 17.5% (2014: 13.4%) for the benchmark index.

·  Investment property valuations, on a like-for-like basis, up 24.7% (11.7% including sales and purchases) with London office valuations up 34.8% (27.0% including sales and purchases).

 

Strong financial position

·  See-through loan to value of 34% (2014: 36%) on a secured basis and 52% overall (2014: 46%).

·  Average maturity of the Group's share of debt of 4.3 years (2014: 3.9 years) at an average cost of 4.1% (2014: 4.5%).

·  £100m Convertible Bond issued in June 2014 provided firepower to grow the portfolio.

·  Group's share of cash and undrawn bank facilities at 31 March 2015 of £229m (2014: £186m).

 

 

 

Operational Highlights

 

London portfolio providing engine of growth with much more to come

·  27.0% valuation increase of London investment portfolio (2014: 18.6%), now valued at £370m (47% of total investment portfolio).

·  Assignment of our purchase contract on 99 Clifton Street, London EC2 generates £16.4m profit.

·  Gross rents on London portfolio of £9.3m compared to ERV of £28.1m.

·  Significant rental growth seen at Shepherd's Building, Hammersmith and in the "Creative Halo".

·  At The Bower, Old Street, London EC1, The Studio and Empire House are fully let with 45% of offices in The Warehouse let or under offer.

·  At Barts Square, London EC1, 64 residential units exchanged on phase 1 out of 92 released.

·  23-28 Charterhouse Square, London EC1 acquired for refurbishment to comprise 38,600 sq ft of offices and 5,350 sq ft of retail/restaurant use, to be completed in early 2017.

·  271,000 sq ft of offices at Creechurch Place, London EC3 under construction.

·  Contracts exchanged on the sale of Artillery Lane, E1 for £15.1m.

·  The current office development programme comprises c. 1.24m sq ft. Of this c. 365,000 sq ft is pre-let or pre-sold.

 

Regional portfolio switch completed with further purchases to come

·  Gross rents on regional investment portfolio of £27.3m, a yield of 6.5% on £420m (53% of total investment portfolio).

·  Regional investment portfolio successfully switched from secondary shopping centres to high yielding distribution warehouses, regional offices and retail parks.

·  12.2% valuation increase on regional offices dominated by performance of Churchgate and Lee House in Manchester.

·  Regional investment portfolio now comprises 25% offices, 14% in town retail, 24% retail parks, 35% industrial/logistics and 2% other.

·  Trading profits of £2.5m (2014: £0.3m) made on the sale of £34m of regional assets.

 

For further information, please contact:

 

Helical Bar plc

020 7629 0113

Michael Slade (Chief Executive)

 

Tim Murphy (Finance Director)

 

 

Address:

5 Hanover Square, London W1S 1HQ

Website:

www.helical.co.uk

 

FTI Consulting

020 3727 1000

Dido Laurimore/Tom Gough/Clare Glynn

     

 

Full Year Results Presentation

 

Helical will be holding a presentation for analysts and investors at 9:30am (BST), Thursday 28 May 2015 at FTI Consulting, 200 Aldersgate, Aldersgate Street, London, EC1A 4HD. If you would like to attend, please contact Clare Glynn at FTI +44 (0) 20 3727 1883 or clare.glynn@fticonsulting.com

 

The presentation will be on the Company's website www.helical.co.uk and a conference call facility will be available. The dial-in details are as follows:

 

Participants, Local - London, United Kingdom:

+44 (0) 20 3427 1901

Confirmation Code:

7890662

 

 

Financial Highlights

 

 

 

 

See-through Income Statement

Notes

1

Year  To

31 March

2015

£m

Year To

31 March

2014

£m

Year  To

31 March

2013

£m

Net rental income

 

38.6

29.8

24.5

Development property profits

 

17.6

65.0

7.0

Trading property profits

 

2.5

0.3

-

Gain on revaluation of investment properties

 

93.0

36.4

6.8

Gain/(loss) on sale of investment properties

 

3.6

8.6

(2.4)

Total property return

 

155.3

140.1

35.9

 

 

 

 

 

Profit before tax

 

87.4

101.7

5.0

EPRA earnings

 

2.8

38.9

2.8

 

 

Earnings Per Share and Dividends

 

 

 

 

 

pence

 

 

pence

 

 

pence

Basic earnings per share

2

64.6

75.0

5.0

Diluted earnings per share

2

60.8

73.2

5.0

EPRA earnings per share

2

2.4

33.3

2.4

Adjusted earnings per share

3

16.0

43.3

6.2

Dividends per share paid in period

 

6.85

5.70

5.25

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See-through Balance Sheet

 

 

 

4

At

31 March

2015

£m

At

31 March

2014

£m

At

31 March

2013

£m

See-through property portfolio

 

1,021.4

801.7

626.4

See-through net borrowings

 

531.9

365.1

283.4

Net assets

 

404.4

340.5

253.8

 

 

 

 

 

Net assets per share, gearing and loan to value

 

 

 

 

EPRA Net Asset Value per share

 

385p

313p

264p

See-through loan to value

5

52%

46%

45%

See-through net gearing

6

132%

107%

112%

See-through Net Asset Value gearing

7

113%

99%

90%

 

Notes

1.    Includes Group's share of income and gains of its subsidiaries and joint ventures. See Appendix 1.

2.    Calculated in accordance with IAS 33 and guidance issued by the European Public Real Estate Association ("EPRA"). Earnings per share exclude the net gain on sale and revaluation of the investment portfolio of £96.6m (2014: £45.0m) but include development profits of £17.6m (2014: £65.0m).

3.    EPRA earnings per share adjusted for performance related awards.

4.    Includes the Group's share of assets and liabilities of its subsidiaries and joint ventures. See Appendix 1.

5.    See-through loan to value is the ratio of see-through net borrowings to see-through property portfolio. See Appendix 2.

6.    See-through net gearing is the ratio of see-through net borrowings to net assets. See Appendix 2.

7.    See-through Net Asset Value gearing is the ratio of see-through net borrowing to EPRA Net Asset Value. See Appendix 2.

 

Chief Executive's Statement

 

It has been another good year for Helical with returns from its portfolio reaffirming the Group's multi-sectoral and multi-disciplined approach to the property cycle. This involves identifying opportunities across the property spectrum which contribute to a regular and increasing flow of rental income as well as creating capital growth and development profits throughout the cycle. We seek a balance between an investment portfolio that provides income for the Group and a development programme that, through the use of limited equity, seeks to maximise returns. This balance currently targets, and has achieved, an investment portfolio representing at least 75% of our total property assets and a development programme covering the remaining 25% which is capable of producing exceptional profits. The portfolio is primarily targeted towards London for capital growth and development profits and the regions for high yielding investment assets and trading profits.

 

Results for the year

The profit before tax for the year to 31 March 2015 was £87.4m, the second highest in the Group's history following last year's record pre-tax profits of £101.7m. Total property return increased by 10.8% to £155.3m (2014: £140.1m) and included growing net rents of £38.6m (up 30% on 2014) and development profits of £17.6m (2014: £65.0m). The gain on sale and revaluation of the investment portfolio contributed £96.6m (2014: £45.0m) and there were trading profits of £2.5m (2014: £0.3m).

 

Net finance costs of £21.2m were significantly higher than in 2014 (£12.7m), with the Income Statement also adversely affected by falls in expected future interest rates which led to an £8.4m charge arising from valuing the Group's derivative financial instruments (2014: a gain of £5.3m) and a £3.3m charge from valuing the £100m Convertible Bond issued in June 2014. Recurring administration costs were higher at £10.2m (2014: £8.8m) with increased numbers of head office employees reflecting the growth of the Group's portfolio and the acceleration of the delivery phase of its development programme. Performance related awards, before national insurance costs, reflecting the success of the Group's activities in the year were £13.4m, down from £15.7m in 2014.

 

The growth in rents and the surpluses on the investment portfolio contributed to an increase in the EPRA net asset value per share to 385p, up 23% from 313p at 31 March 2014. EPRA earnings per share were 2.4p (2014: 33.3p) reflecting the exclusion of the £96.6m (2014: £45.0m) investment portfolio gain from this measure. These results allow the Board to continue its progressive dividend policy and to recommend to shareholders a final dividend of 5.15p, an increase of 8.4% on 2014 (4.75p), taking the total for the year to 7.25p (2014: 6.75p), an overall increase of 7.4%.

 

The London Portfolio

The London investment and development portfolio continues to combine exceptional contributions from individual schemes with significant progress in delivering the Group's programme of new and refurbished properties.

 

At 99 Clifton Street, London EC2, we have forward sold an office development of 45,000 sq ft which is due to complete this summer, for £38.25m, having committed to purchase it on completion for £21.0m. At Barts Square, London EC1, our scheme in joint venture with The Baupost Group LLC, we have exchanged contracts for sale, at an average of £1,574 psf, on 64 of the 92 residential units released in September 2014 from phase one of the development, which commenced in January 2015 and is due for completion in summer 2017. Subsequent phases will commence in 2016.

 

At The Bower, Old Street, London EC1, we expect to complete phase one, the refurbishment and extension of The Warehouse (122,000 sf ft NIA of offices, 5,300 sq ft of restaurant use) and The Studio (18,363 sq ft of offices, 3,746 of restaurant use) by summer 2015 having pre-let Empire House (20,726 sq ft) to Z Hotels and restaurant Ceviche who carried out their own refurbishment works. The second phase, a complete refurbishment of The Tower at 207 Old Street, is due to commence summer 2015. At C-Space, London EC1 we expect to complete the refurbishment in August 2015 and are confident that the whole building will be let by the end of this year.

 

Our 271,000 sq ft office development at One Creechurch Place, London EC3, equity funded with our joint venture partner HOOPP (Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan), is under construction and due for completion in September 2016. At 23-28 Charterhouse Square, London EC1 we have acquired an existing office building which will comprise 38,600 sq ft of offices and 5,350 sq ft of retail/restaurant on completion of refurbishment works in late 2016.

 

At Shepherds Building, London W14, having completed the refurbishment of the common parts, we have recently let space at £47.50 psf which compares to a current average passing rent of £30.50 psf. At New Loom House, London E1, we continue to refurbish space as it becomes available and are achieving rents of £37.50 psf compared to an average rent on acquisition of this building in 2013 of £18 psf. In 2015 we shall be embarking on a substantial refurbishment programme which will provide a new entrance and refresh many of the common parts of the building. At Artillery Lane, London E1 we expect to complete the comprehensive refurbishment of this 17,000 sq ft office building in September 2015, following which we will complete the sale of the building at an agreed price of £15.1m.

 

This level of asset management activity has contributed to a 27% valuation increase of the London investment portfolio, which is now valued at £370m (47% of the total investment portfolio). Passing rents on the portfolio are £9.3m, but will grow over the next few years towards its ERV, now estimated to be £28.1m.

 

The Regional Portfolio

The regional investment and development portfolio provides a growing stream of net rents from a high yielding investment portfolio whilst contributing development surpluses from the retirement village and retail development programmes. The investment portfolio has seen a major switch out of secondary retail assets, acquired in 2010 and 2011, into high yielding distribution warehouses, regional offices and out-of-town retail parks. We have sold our shopping centres at Corby Town Centre; Clyde Shopping Centre; The Guineas, Newmarket; Idlewells Shopping Centre, Sutton-in-Ashfield and Town Square Basildon. We now retain just one in-town retail investment asset at The Morgan Quarter, Cardiff, a prime retail asset opposite the St David's Shopping Centre. We have reinvested the proceeds into 44 new regional assets, primarily distribution warehouses throughout the country but also offices in Manchester, Bristol, Cobham and out-of-town retail park units in Harrogate, Stockport, Great Yarmouth, Southend, Stoke-on-Trent and other locations.

 

The regional portfolio also includes our retirement village development programme where we have continued construction works at Durrants Village Horsham, Millbrook Village Exeter and Maudslay Park Great Alne near Stratford-upon-Avon. During the year we sold 36 residential units and look forward to the opening of the Clubhouse at Durrants Village later this year. Our retail development programme, with partners Oswin Developments, continues to progress schemes at Truro, Cortonwood, Kingswinford and Evesham having completed its scheme at Shirley, West Midlands.

 

Finance

The £100m 4% Convertible Bond, issued in June 2014, continued the move away from the use of secured borrowings which started in 2013 with the issue of the £80m 6% Retail Bond. The issue of these two financing instruments allowed the Group to increase its investment in the property market without significant dilution of existing shareholders and without putting pressure on the Group's loan covenants. We draw a distinction between secured borrowings, on which we have a net LTV (loan to value) of 34% and unsecured forms of debt i.e. our Retail and Convertible Bonds, which increase our overall LTV to 52%. During the year we agreed a 10 year facility with Aviva Commercial Finance and extended our revolving credit facilities with Barclays and, since the year end, with RBS, whilst taking advantage of the low interest rates to arrange medium to long term interest rate hedging. The effect of these financial arrangements has been to extend the average debt maturity to 4.3 years (2014: 3.9 years) whilst reducing our average cost of debt to 4.1% (2014: 4.5%). The Group continues to have a significant level of cash and unutilised bank facilities at the year end of £229m (2014: £186m) to fund any additional purchases and capital works on its portfolio.

 

Outlook

Our strategy of investing and developing in London whilst maintaining a high yielding regional investment programme continues to bear fruit. We expect our London portfolio to continue to provide significant surpluses over the next few years as rental levels grow and we complete and let our development schemes. In the regions, we have completed our rotation out of secondary shopping centres and into high yielding distribution warehouses, regional offices and out-of-town retail parks. We have seen good demand from occupiers for the assets in our portfolio and strong interest in those types of assets from institutions. This is leading to a rise in both rental and capital values as the UK economy strengthens outside London.

 

With the General Election behind us we can look forward with confidence to a more stable domestic political situation, which should help the UK economy to grow, and we anticipate providing shareholders with continued strong growth in the value of our business.

 

 

Michael Slade

Chief Executive

28 May 2015

 

Strategies

 

Overview

Helical is a UK focused property company investing in London for capital growth and the regions for income.

 

Investment strategy

The investment portfolio, which is mainly let and income producing, has two main purposes:

 

•    To provide a steady stream of rental income for the Group; and,

•    To produce above average capital growth over the cycle to contribute to growth in the Group's net

      asset value.

 

We seek to achieve this through careful, disciplined selection of properties which currently include multi-let offices in London, distribution warehouses, regional offices and mixed-use portfolios. Our key aim, when undertaking this selection process, is to ensure that there is sustainable demand from potential occupiers for all of our assets. We look to have a blend of London properties, where yields are lower but the potential for capital growth higher, and properties outside London where surplus cash flow is greater.

 

We acquire properties where good management can enhance value rather than relying simply on market improvements.

 

We frequently refurbish and/or extend our properties to create value. We also work closely with tenants with the aim of maintaining maximum occupancy in our properties. Our relationship with tenants can lead to opportunities to increase value through re-gearing leases or moving tenants within a building as their respective businesses expand or contract.

 

Development strategy

The Group aims to limit the amount of equity that it deploys into development situations through a variety of different structures. The intention is to maximise the Group's share of profits in a development by leveraging the capital employed by the Group and with a view to managing the risks inherent in the development process. The Group's approach to development activities includes:

 

•    Co-investment alongside a larger partner where we have a minority equity stake, receiving a "waterfall" payment whereby we obtain a greater profit share than the percentage of our investment, depending upon the profitability of the project. This strategy is used for the developments at Barts Square, The Bower and Creechurch Place.

 

•    Reduce up-front equity required by entering into conditional contracts or options. We are using this approach at Creechurch Place and for our out-of-town retail development programme, for example Cortonwood (where land is optioned or put under contract which is conditional upon achieving planning permission and pre-lets to retailers), thereby mitigating the risks of the developments.

 

•    Participation in profit share situations where little or no equity investment is required, seeking to minimise any fixed base fee to maximise our profit share so that our interests are completely aligned with our partners. In this way, for a minimal equity commitment, we can benefit from a significant profit share if we contribute to a project's success by using our skills and experience throughout the entire development process.

 

Our risk strategy

Risk is an integral part of any Group's business activities and Helical's ability to identify, assess, monitor and manage each risk to which it is exposed is fundamental to its financial stability, current and future financial performance and reputation. As well as seeing changes in our internal and external environment as potential risks, we also see them as being opportunities which can drive performance.

 

Risk management starts at Board level where the Directors set the overall risk appetite of the Group and the risk management strategies. Helical's management runs the business within these guidelines and part of its role is to act within these strategies and to report to the Board on how they are being operated.

 

The Group's risk appetite and risk management strategies are continually assessed by the Board to ensure that they are appropriate and consistent with the Group's overall strategy and with external market conditions. The effectiveness of the Group's risk management strategy is reviewed every six months by the Audit Committee and by the full Board.

 

The risks faced by the Group do not change significantly from year to year but their importance and the Group's response to them vary in accordance with changes in the internal and external environment. The Board considers not only the current situation but also potential future scenarios and how these might impact our business.

 

The Board has ultimate responsibility for risk within the business. However, the small size of our team and our flat management structure allows the Executive Directors to have close contact with all aspects of the business and allows us to ensure that the identification and management of risks and opportunities is part of the mindset of all decision makers at Helical.

 

The principal risks faced by the Group, and the steps taken by the Group to mitigate these risks, can be found in Appendix 5.

 

Performance

We measure our performance using a number of financial and non-financial key performance indicators ("KPIs").

 

We incentivise management to outperform the Group's competitors by setting appropriate levels for performance indicators against which rewards are measured. We also design our remuneration packages to align management's interests with shareholders' aspirations. Key to this is the monitoring and reporting against identifiable performance targets and benchmarks.

 

Investment Property Databank

The Investment Property Databank ("IPD") produces a number of independent benchmarks of property returns which are regarded as the main industry indices.

 

IPD has compared the ungeared performance of Helical's total property portfolio against that of portfolios within IPD for the last 20 years. The Group's annual performance target is to exceed the top quartile of the IPD database, which it has consistently achieved. Helical's ungeared performance for the year to 31 March 2015 was 20.4% (2014: 23.8%) compared to the IPD median benchmark of 17.5% (2014: 13.4%) and upper quartile benchmark of 19.6% (2014: 15.4%). Helical's portfolio unleveraged returns to 31 March 2015 were as follows:

 

 

1 yr

% pa

3 yrs

% pa

5 yrs

% pa

10 yrs

% pa

20 yrs

% pa

Helical

20.4

17.4

11.9

10.9

14.9

IPD

17.5

11.4

10.5

6.3

8.9

Helical's Percentile Rank

19

5

13

3

1

Source: Investment Property Databank.

 

Helical's trading and development portfolio (23% of gross assets) is shown in IPD at the lower of book cost or fair value and uplifts are only included on the sale of an asset.    
 

EPRA Net asset value per share (pence)

A property company's share price should reflect growth in net assets per share. Our Group's main objective is to maximise growth in assets from increases in investment portfolio values and from retained earnings from other property related activities. Net asset value per share represents the share of net assets attributable to each ordinary share. Whilst the basic and diluted net asset per share calculations provide a guide to performance, the property industry prefers to use an EPRA adjusted net asset per share to represent the fair value of net assets on an ongoing long term basis. The adjustments necessary to arrive at this figure are shown in note 31 to these results.

 

Management is incentivised to exceed 15% pa growth in net asset value per share.

 

The diluted net asset value per share, excluding trading stock surplus, at 31 March 2015 increased by 15.3% to 332p (2014: 288p). Including the surplus on valuation of trading and development stock, the EPRA net asset value per share at 31 March 2015 increased by 23.0% to 385p (2014: 313p). EPRA triple net asset value per share increased by 17.0% to 364p (2014: 311p).

           

Total Shareholder Return

Total Shareholder Return is a measure of the return on investment for shareholders. The table below demonstrates this return compared to various indices. Over three, ten, fifteen, twenty and twenty five years Helical's Total Shareholder Return exceeded that of the Listed Retail Estate Sector Index and the IPD Monthly Index.

 

 

 

Performance Measured Over

 

 

1 year

Total return

pa %

3 years

Total return

pa %

5 years

Total return

pa %

10 years

Total return

pa %

15 years

Total return

pa %

20 years

Total return

pa %

25 years

Total return

pa %

Helical Bar plc

1

7.6

30.6

5.2

7.3

11.4

13.8

13.4

UK Equity Market

2

6.6

10.6

8.3

7.7

4.5

7.9

8.7

Listed Real Estate Sector Index

3

22.8

24.0

15.7

4.7

8.1

8.3

6.8

Direct Property - monthly data

4

18.3

11.4

10.3

5.9

7.7

8.6

7.8

1 Growth to 31/03/15.

2 Growth in FTSE All-Share Return Index to 31/03/15.

3 Growth in FTSE 350 Real Estate Super Sector Return Index over 1 year, 3 years, 5 years and 10 years to 31/03/15. For data prior to 30 September 1999 FTSE All Share Real Estate Sector Index has been used.

4 Growth in Total Return of IPD UK Monthly Index (All Property) to 31/03/15.

 

Financial Review

 

Review of the year

 

The main areas that we focused on in the year to 31 March 2015 were to drive growth in rents through asset management, to increase our exposure to London assets where we see continued growth in rental and capital values, to grow the overall size of our regional portfolio and to switch out of secondary shopping centres and into high yielding distribution warehouses, out-of-town retail parks and offices.

 

The results for the year, having delivered on these initiatives, have created growing rental surpluses, significant revaluation gains on the investment portfolio and profits from the development programme in London and are reflected in pre-tax profits of £87.4m (2014: £101.7m) and shareholders' funds which increased by 19% in the year to 31 March 2015. The Group's portfolio, including its share of property held in joint ventures, increased to £1,021m (2014: £802m), largely the result of investment property acquisitions during the year funded by a £100m Convertible Bond plus substantial revaluation surpluses. This expansion of the Group's activities has resulted in an increase in its loan to value to 52% (2014: 46%) and an increase in balance sheet gearing to 132% (2014: 107%).

 

During the year the Group continued to lengthen and diversify its borrowings profile. New secured borrowings included an £81m 10 year fixed rate investment facility, supplemented by the issue of a five year unsecured Convertible Bond, raising a further £100m. These new sources of funding enabled the Group to extend its overall debt maturity profile to 4.3 years (2014: 3.9 years), with a reduced weighted average cost of debt of 4.1% (2014: 4.5%).


At 31 March 2015, the Group had unutilised bank facilities of £93m and £136m of cash. These facilities are available to fund the Group's retirement village development programme, refurbishment works at C-Space, London EC1, The Bower, Old Street EC1 and the phase 1 construction works at Barts Square, London EC1.

 

EPRA Earnings

EPRA Earnings is a measure of operational performance representing the net income generated from a company's operational activities. These activities exclude gains on the sale and revaluation of investment properties, trading property gains and losses and fair value movements of assets and liabilities, most notably in respect of derivative financial instruments, net of associated tax. The measure, as defined by the European Public Real Estate Association, does not make any adjustment for additional costs associated with such excluded gains, the most notable of which are performance related awards. At Helical such awards derive from all sources of profits and gains and, accordingly, to provide a more meaningful comparison, an Adjusted Earnings per share is noted below, which is calculated on earnings before the charge for performance related awards relating to those items excluded from this measure.

 

EPRA Earnings per share were 2.4p (2014: 33.3p), reflecting the Group's share of net rental income of £38.6m (2014: £29.8m), development profits of £17.6m (2014: £65.0m) and excluding gains on sale and revaluation of investment properties of £96.6m (2014: 45.0m) and trading profits of £2.5m (2014: £0.3m). After adding back performance related awards of £15.6m (2014: £11.6m), Adjusted Earnings per share were 16.0p (2014: 43.3p).

 

 

EPRA Earnings

31.03.15

£000

31.03.14

£000

EPRA earnings as per note 12

2,805

38,934

Add: performance related awards

15,647

11,613

Adjusted earnings

18,452

50,547

EPRA Earnings per share

2.4p

33.3p

Adjusted Earnings per share

16.0p

43.3p

 

EPRA Net Asset Value

EPRA net asset value per share increased by 23.0% to 385p per share (2014: 313p). This rise was principally due to a total comprehensive income of £74.9m (2014: £86.7m), plus an increase in the surplus on valuation of the trading and development stock to £36.2m (2014: £27.5m).

 

EPRA Net Asset Value

31.03.15

£000

31.03.15

per share p

31.03.14

£000

31.03.14

per share p

Net asset value

404,098

332

340,382

288

EPRA Adjustments for:

 

 

 

 

Fair value of trading and development stock, including in joint ventures

36,243

 

27,479

 

Fair value of financial instruments

8,568

 

(243)

 

Fair value of Convertible Bond

3,263

 

-

 

Associated deferred tax

16,956

 

2,444

 

EPRA net asset value

469,128

385

370,062

313

 

Income Statement

 

Rental income and property overheads

Gross rental income receivable by the Group in respect of wholly owned properties increased by 27.7% to £38.3m (2014: £30.0m). The Group's share of gross rents receivable in joint ventures reduced to £6.1m (2014: £6.6m) reflecting the termination of leases at Barts Square where the phase one residential development has commenced. See-through gross rents totalled £44.4m, an increase of 21.4% on 2014. After taking account of head rents payable on those properties held on long leases, and the costs of managing the assets, void costs and letting costs, see-through net rents increased by 29.5% to £38.6m (2014: £29.8m). Bad debts from tenant administrations and failures fell below 0.1% of gross rents (2014: 0.4%).

 

Development programme

Development profits were down on last year, which had seen exceptional profits at 200 Aldersgate London and White City of £62m. This year we have recognised 95% of the profit on the Clifton Street forward sale to UBS (Triton), amounting to £16.4m and development management fees on our Barts Square, The Bower and Creechurch Place developments, totalling £1.1m. In addition, our development management role in building the new Scottish Power headquarters in Glasgow has generated fees of £1.3m. In our joint ventures we have recognised £1.9m of development profit on our schemes at Leisure Plaza and C4.1, both in Milton Keynes. Our retirement village programme contributed £1.0m of profits. Set against these profits is an impairment of £3.0m against our retail development at Europa Centralna, Poland and a provision against a site in Telford of £1.0m.

 

Share of results of joint ventures

As mentioned above, Helical has increasingly sought to acquire larger assets in joint ventures with property funds that provide the majority of the equity required to purchase the assets, who in turn rely on Helical to provide the asset management or development expertise. These joint ventures include our share of the investment properties at Clyde Shopping Centre, Clydebank (sold in March 2015) and The Bower, 207 Old Street, London EC1, and our development schemes at Barts Square, London EC1; Creechurch Place, London EC3; Europa Centralna, Gliwice, Poland; Shirley Town Centre, West Midlands; Leisure Plaza, Milton Keynes and King Street, Hammersmith, London W6. Detailed analysis of the financial position of our share of these joint ventures is provided in note 16 to this report and the see-through analysis in Appendix 1. In the year under review, net rents of £4.4m (2014: £5.4m) were received, offset by net finance costs of £3.6m (2014: £2.5m). A gain on revaluation of the investment portfolio of £26.1m (2014: £15.7m), primarily arose in respect of Barts Square, London EC1 and The Bower, London EC1. Net of taxes, our joint ventures contributed £27.5m (2014: £16.4m).

 

Administration costs

Administration costs, before performance related awards, increased by 16%, from £8.8m to £10.2m. This reflects an increase in the number of asset managers and development executives within the Group as it expands its investment portfolio and moves through the delivery phase of its development portfolio as well as from costs incurred in connection with the move of the Company's head office to Hanover Square, London W1.

 

Performance related share awards and bonus payments, before National Insurance costs, reduced to £13.4m (2014: £15.7m) for the year. Of this amount, the £6.4m (2014: £6.3m) charge for share awards under the Performance Share Plan is expensed through the Income Statement but added back to Shareholders Funds through the Statement of Changes in Equity. The £6.9m (2014: £9.4m) accrual for bonus payments comprises £5.5m (2014: £5.1m) which will be paid in June 2015, £nil (2014: £2.9m) which will be carried forward to next year in accordance with the terms of the Annual Bonus Scheme 2012 and £1.4m (2014: £1.4m) which will be paid in deferred shares to be held for a minimum of three years. In addition, National Insurance of £3.0m (2014: £2.2m) has been accrued in the year.

 

 

2015

£000

2014

£000

Administration costs

10,156

8,816

Share awards

6,432

6,333

Directors and senior executives bonuses

6,920

9,357

NIC on share awards and bonuses

3,022

2,170

Total

26,530

26,676

 

Finance costs, finance income and derivative financial instruments

Interest payable on bank loans including our share of loans on assets held in joint ventures but before capitalised interest increased to £24.7m (2014: £17.3m),  reflecting the increased debt taken on to finance the expansion of the Group's investment activities.

 

The fall in medium and long term interest rate projections since 31 March 2014 contributed to a charge of £8.4m (2014: credit of £5.3m) on the derivative financial instruments which have been valued on a mark to market basis.

 

Capitalised interest increased from £2.8m to £3.6m as development schemes progressed. Other interest payable increased from £2.5m to £6.3m as the Group wrote off £2.8m of costs incurred in issuing the £100m Convertible Bond. As a consequence of these movements, total finance costs increased by £10.3m from £17.0m to £27.3m. Finance income earned was £2.5m (2014: £1.2m).

 

Taxation

The deferred tax charge for the year is principally derived from the revaluation surpluses recognised in the year offset by tax losses which the Group believe will be utilised against profits in the foreseeable future.

 

Investment portfolio

The issue of the £100m Convertible Bond in June 2014, together with sales of over £170m of investment assets, mainly shopping centres where our asset management initiatives were completed, provided funds, net of loan repayments, for £246m of acquisitions and £41m of further value enhancing capital expenditure. Revaluation surpluses of £68m (£1m attributable to our profit share partners) in our main portfolio and £26m in our joint venture assets, increased the overall size of the investment portfolio on a see-through basis to £790m (2014: £601m). The sales of investment assets generated profits of £2.5m (2014: £8.6m) in the main portfolio and £1.1m (2014: £nil) in our joint ventures.

 

Debt and financial risk

Since 31 March 2014, the Group has raised £100m through the issue of a five year Convertible Bond with a 4.00% coupon and £81m of long term debt repayable in December 2024 with a fixed interest rate of 3.48%. The composition of the Group's debt structure has significantly changed since 31 March 2014 with unsecured debt now representing 27% of debt drawn at 31 March 2015.

 

In total, Helical's outstanding debt at 31 March 2015 of £674.6m had an average maturity of 4.3 years (2014: 3.9 years) and a weighted cost of 4.1% (2014: 4.5%).

 

Debt profile at 31 March 2015 - excluding the effect of arrangement fees

Facility Type

Total

Facility

£000's

Total

Utilised

£000's

Available Facility

£000's

Net LTV*

%

Weighted Average Interest Rate

%

Average Maturity

Years

Secured debt - investment facilities

395,127

372,198

22,929

58.2

3.7

4.6

   - development and sites

68,300

47,365

20,935

53.2

3.7

2.0

Total wholly owned

463,427

419,563

43,864

35.9

3.7

4.3

In joint ventures

109,936

71,158

38,778

27.0

4.5

3.0

Total secured debt

573,363

490,721

82,642

34.1

3.8

4.1

Unsecured debt - Retail Bond

80,000

80,000

-

-

6.0

5.2

                              - Convertible Bond

100,000

100,000

-

-

4.0

4.2

                              - working capital

10,666

666

10,000

-

 

 

Fair value adjustment of Convertible Bond

3,263

3,263

-

-

-

-

Total unsecured debt

193,929

183,929

10,000

-

4.9

4.6

Total see-through debt

767,292

674,650

92,642

52.1

4.1

4.3

               

*Net LTV is the ratio of gross borrowings less cash deposits to the fair value of the property portfolio.

The Group arranges its borrowings to suit its investment and development intentions as follows:

 

Investment facilities

These are typically for four to five years, financing the Group's investment portfolio and a fully let retail development at Wroclaw in Poland with loan to value and income covenants. The value of the Group's properties secured on these facilities at 31 March 2015 was £638,999,000 (2014: £486,280,000) with a corresponding loan to value of 58% (2014: 53%). The average maturity of the Group's investment facilities at 31 March 2015 was 4.6 years (2014: 3.7 years).

 

Development and site holding facilities

These facilities finance the construction of the retirement villages at Durrants Village, Horsham; Maudslay Park, Great Alne and Millbrook Village, Exeter. They also include a site holding facility at Telford. The average maturity of the Group's development and site holding facilities at 31 March 2015 was 2.0 years (2014: 3.0 years).

 

Joint venture bank facilities

As noted above, we hold a number of investment and development properties in joint venture with third parties and include, in the above table, our share, in proportion to our economic interest, of the debt associated with each asset. During the year we agreed a new five year facility to December 2019 providing finance for the first phase of the redevelopment of Barts Square, London EC1. The average maturity of the Group's share of bank facilities in joint ventures at 31 March 2015 was 3.0 years (2014: 2.5 years).

 

Retail Bond

In June 2013, the Group raised £80m from the issue of an unsecured Retail Bond with a 6.00% coupon. This bond is repayable in June 2020.

 

Convertible Bond

In June 2014, the Group raised £100m from the issue of an unsecured Convertible Bond with a 4.00% coupon, repayable in June 2019 or, subject to certain conditions, convertible at the option of the bondholders into ordinary shares, unless a cash settlement option is exercised by the Company. The initial conversion price has been set at £4.9694 per share, representing a 35% premium above the price on the day of the issue and a premium of 59% above the Company's EPRA net asset value per share at 31 March 2014.

 

Short term working capital facilities

These facilities provide working capital for the Group.Cash and cash flow

At 31 March 2015, the Group had over £229m (2014: £186m) of cash and agreed, undrawn, committed bank facilities including its share in joint ventures as well as £131m (2014: £82m) of uncharged property on which it could borrow funds.

 

Net borrowings and gearing

Net borrowings held by the Group have increased during the year from £312.8m to £477.2m. Including the Group's share of net debt of its joint ventures the Group's share of total net debt has increased from £365.1m to £531.9m. There has been a corresponding increase from 99% to 113% in see-through net asset value gearing. This gearing measure, which is the ratio of see-through net borrowings to EPRA net asset value, represents a longer term view than the standard gearing measure.

 

Net borrowings and gearing

2015

2014

Net borrowings - including joint ventures

£531.9m

£365.1m

Net assets

£404.4m

£340.5m

Gearing - Group

118%

92%

Gearing - including joint ventures

132%

107%

See-through net asset value gearing

113%

99%

 

Hedging

At 31 March 2015 the Group had £496.9m (2014: £291.5m) of fixed rate debt with an average effective interest rate of 4.4% (2014: 4.8%) and £98.1m (2014: £84.6m) of floating rate debt with an average effective interest rate of 2.4% (2014: 3.50%). In addition, the Group had £143.2m of interest rate caps at an average of 4.0% (2014: £132m at 4.0%). In the joint ventures, the Group's share of fixed rate debt was £49.6m (2014: £29.6m) with an average effective interest rate of 5.0% (2014: 6.0%), and £21.6m (2014: £43.6m) of floating rate debt with an effective rate of 3.4% (2014: 3.3%). In addition, the joint ventures benefited from £35.0m (2014: £49.0m) of interest rate caps at an average of 5.0% (2014: 5.0%).

 

Interest cover

In assessing the results of the Group for each financial year, Helical considers its interest cover as a measure of its performance and its ability to finance its annual interest payments from its net operating income, before revaluation gains or losses on the investment portfolio and net realisable provisions on the trading and development stock. In the year to 31 March 2015, this interest cover was 2.5 times (2014: 8.3 times).

 

 

2015

2014

 

£000

£000

See-through net operating income

62,747

103,143

See-through net finance costs

24,799

12,360

Interest cover

2.5x

8.3x

 

 

 

Tim Murphy
Finance Director

28 May 2015

 

 

Helical's Property Portfolio - 31 March 2015

 

Helical's Portfolio by Fair Value

 

 

Investment

£m

%

Development

£m

%

Total

£m

%

London

370.2

36.2

53.3

5.2

423.5

41.5

Regional offices

103.5

10.1

2.6

0.3

106.1

10.4

Industrial/logistics

145.7

14.3

-

-

145.7

14.3

Retail

159.1

15.6

26.3

2.6

185.4

18.2

Retirement villages

11.3

1.1

87.7

8.6

99.1

9.7

Change of use

-

-

8.3

0.8

8.3

0.8

Poland

-

-

53.3

5.2

53.2

5.1

Total

789.8

77.3

231.6

22.7%

1,021.4

100.0

 

Investment Portfolio (Helical's share)

 

Portfolio yields

 

 

 

EPRA net Initial yield

%

 

Reversionary

%

EPRA 'topped-up' net initial yield

%

London offices

2.9

6.2

5.7

Regional offices

5.2

7.6

5.9

Industrial/logistics

7.3

7.3

7.4

Retail

6.2

6.5

6.5

Total portfolio

4.9

6.7

6.3

Note: this analysis excludes Barts Square, London EC1 and The Bower, 207 Old Street, London EC1

 

Valuation movements, portfolio weighting and changes to rental values

 

 

Weighting

%

Valuation

increase

%

ERV change since Mar 2014

%

London offices

46.9

27.0

20.4

Regional offices

13.1

12.2

-0.9

Industrial/logistics

18.5

1.3

0.6

Retail

20.1

2.6

4.4

Other

1.4

4.2

-

Total

100.0

11.7

8.6

Note: includes sales, purchases and capex.

 

Capital values, vacancy rates and unexpired lease terms

 

 

Capital value psf

£

Vacancy rate by area

%

Average unexpired lease term (years)

London offices

331

26.8

7.0

Industrial/logistics

59

0.3

4.8

Regional offices

189

7.9

5.8

Retail

189

2.2

7.9

Total portfolio

146

5.1

7.0

 

Trading and development portfolio (Helical's share)

Project Type

Book Value

£m

Fair Value

£m

Surplus

£m

% of Development

Portfolio

(fair value)

London - offices

8.0

14.9

6.9

6.5

               - residential

26.3

33.3

7.0

14.4

               - mixed use

5.2

5.2

-

2.2

Regional offices

0.7

2.6

1.9

1.1

Retail

26.0

26.3

0.3

11.4

Retirement Villages

72.4

87.7

15.3

37.9

Poland

52.2

53.3

1.1

23.0

Change of Use

4.5

8.3

3.8

3.5

Total

195.3

231.6

36.3

100.0

Note: the table above includes the Group's share of development properties held in joint ventures.

 

 

Investment Portfolio Overview

 

Our £789.8m investment portfolio provides income for the Group. We have a strong focus on asset management, maximising net operating income and working closely with our tenants.

 

Our aim is to have at least 75% of our portfolio in investment properties and 25% in development properties, blending stable recurring income with exposure to potentially superior profitability in developments. We currently have 77% of our assets in investment properties and, having realised our stated goal, we will look to broadly retain this balance going forward.

 

Our income stream is diverse and secure with no tenant accounting for more than 6.2% of the rent roll. Our average weighted unexpired lease term is 7.0 years (2014: 7.2 years).

 

The income stream has grown steadily since 2010 and is highly reversionary. The passing rent from our investment portfolio is £36.7m (2014: £37.7m) and the estimated rental value of our portfolio is £59.5m (2014: £45.6m). This reversionary income will be captured through letting vacant units and rent reviews.

 

The marginal fall in passing rent at 31 March 2015 reflects the impact of the sale of the majority of our in-town retail portfolio, including Corby Town Centre, Clyde Shopping Centre, the Guineas Newmarket and Idlewells in Sutton-in-Ashfield. These assets have been replaced with a number of logistics purchases.

 

Furthermore, through judicious buying of under-rented buildings in growth areas, securing lettings and undertaking refurbishments, we aim to generate substantial capital growth in our property values.

 

Investment Property Portfolio Values

At 31 March 2015, the investment property portfolio was valued at £789.8m (31 March 2014: £600.7m), with £701.5m (31 March 2014: £493.2m) held in wholly owned subsidiaries and £88.3m (31 March 2014: £107.5m) held in joint ventures, as set out below.

 

 

Wholly

Owned

In

Joint Venture

See-Through

 

£000

£000

£000

Valuation at 31 March 2014

493,201

107,504

600,705

Acquisitions

245,656

-

245,656

Capital Expenditure

25,437

15,698

41,135

Disposals

(130,729)

(40,515)

(171,244)

Transfer to stock

-

(20,516)

(20,516)

Revaluation Surplus - Helical

66,904

26,134

93,038

                                        - Profit Share Partners

1,052

-

1,052

Valuation at 31 March 2015

701,521

88,305

789,826

 

Acquisitions and Sales

It has been another extremely active year of buying and selling. During the year we have acquired 58 properties, the equivalent of one purchase every six days. In aggregate, we have acquired £276.7m of assets (including costs) with £245.7m added to our investment portfolio and £31.0m traded out of portfolios, either on acquisition or shortly afterwards. Net sales values totalled £211.2m with £133.8m of net proceeds from the sale of investment properties, £41.4m being our share of the net proceeds of the sale of Clyde Shopping Centre and £36.0m being the net proceeds from the sale of trading properties. Including capital expenditure of £41.1m, this represents a net investment in investment assets of £106.6m.

 

During the year we acquired five portfolios of industrial/logistics, out-of-town retail and office investments. In April 2014 we acquired The Constellation Portfolio, a mixed-use portfolio for £40.2m reflecting an 8.35% net initial yield. In August we acquired a portfolio of eleven industrial and distribution warehouse assets, known as the Boss Portfolio, for £29.7m, reflecting a net initial yield of 8.0% (excluding a vacant property at Rugby which was subsequently sold). In December we acquired the Sun and Mint Portfolios for £46.6m, reflecting a net initial yield of 7.9%. The Sun Portfolio comprised three single let units and two multi let industrial estates of eight units. We also acquired the 4:2 Portfolio for £22.1m reflecting a net initial yield of 8.3%. This comprised three office properties and two industrial properties (excluding an office in Southampton which was sold on completion of the purchase). In addition we have purchased two retail warehouses in Harrogate and Stockport for £12.1m at a net initial yield of 6.95% and a regional distribution warehouse in Yate, Bristol, for £11.5m at a net initial yield of 10.1%. We have also acquired a distribution facility in Leighton Buzzard for £9.9m at a net initial yield of 7.85% and a distribution warehouse in Hinckley, Leicestershire for £9.5m at a net initial yield of 7.75%, as well as a number of smaller assets.

 

The most significant sales have been of our shopping centres, including Corby for £71.7m, Clydebank for £69.7m (Helical's share 60%), Newmarket for £18.2m and Sutton-in-Ashfield for £16.1m. This has concluded our move out of in-town retail.

 

Capital Expenditure

We have a refurbishment and redevelopment programme upgrading and increasing space at a number of our investment properties.

 

 

 

Property

Capex Budget

(Helical Share)

£m

Current

Total

Space

Sq ft

Refurbished Space

Sq ft

New

Space

Sq ft

 

 

Completion Date

The Bower, Old St,

London EC1

15.9

285,000

116,000

53,000

July 2015

New Loom House,

London E1

4.7

112,000

20,000

-

April 2016

Churchgate & Lee House, Manchester

1.5

248,000

66,000

-

October 2015

One King Street, Hammersmith, London W6

2.9

35,000

5,000

4,000

August 2015

C Space,

London EC1

12.5

50,000

50,000

12,000

August 2015

Artillery Lane,

London E1

3.2

17,000

17,000

2,000

September 2015

 

 

Asset management

During the year contracted income increased by £1.1m as a result of new lettings and rent reviews, net of any losses from breaks and expiries (2014: £0.4m).

 

There was significant activity within the investment portfolio with a lease event on over 200 leases.

 

We concluded £5.1m of new lettings and uplifts at renewal (12.2% rent roll) and benefitted from uplifts at rent review of £0.1m (0.3% rent roll), offsetting the loss of rent at lease end or break (£4.0m, 9.6% rent roll) and a further £0.1m through tenant administrations (0.3% rent roll).

 

Rent lost at break/expiry

-£4.0m

Rent lost to administrations

-£0.1m

Rent reviews

£0.1m

Lease renewals and new lettings

£5.1m

Total change

£1.1m

 

Overall we have seen good letting demand across the portfolio, maintaining our vacancy rate around 5.0% (31 March 2014: 4.6%). Circa £1m of rent has deliberately been forgone as properties are vacated for redevelopment and refurbishment. We have seen strong take up and rental growth in our London office portfolio with estimated rental values increasing by 20.4% in the year for our London portfolio (excluding Barts Square, London EC1 which will be redeveloped).

 

Lease expiries or tenant break options

 

Year to March

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

% of rent roll

9.0

14.0

10.7

12.6

11.4

Number of leases

76

86

68

37

34

Average rate per lease (£)

49,100

67,400

65,000

141,000

139,000

 

We have a strong rental income stream and a diverse tenant base, with no single tenant accounting for more than 6.2% of the rent roll. The top 10 tenants account for 33% of the total rent roll and the tenants come from diverse industries.

 

Rank

Tenant

Tenant Industry

Rent

(Helical)

£m

Rent Roll

%

1

Endemol UK

Media

2.3

6.2

2

Network Rail Infrastructure

Infrastructure

2.0

5.5

3

DSG Retail

Retail

1.3

3.5

4

Homebase

Retail

1.3

3.5

5

Sainsbury's Supermarkets

Retail

1.3

3.5

6

Economic Solutions

Government

1.0

2.6

7

B&Q

Retail

0.8

2.1

8

Triumph Motorcycles

Manufacturing

0.8

2.1

9

Nicholl Food Packaging

Manufacturing

0.8

2.1

10

Capita Life & Pensions Regulated Services

Professional Services

0.8

2.1

 

TOTAL

 

12.4

33.2

 

 

The London Portfolio

 

The Bower, 207 Old Street, EC1 

This 3.12 acre asset was acquired in November 2012 for £60.8m in joint venture with Crosstree Real Estate Partners LLP (Helical interest 33.3%). The site is in the heart of an area which has become a "creative halo", a district of London which is a hub for technology, media and telecommunications companies and which is benefitting from substantial investment in infrastructure.

 

Since acquisition, a planning consent has been obtained to increase the floor space on the site by 116,000 sq ft, to refurbish existing areas and significantly upgrade the public realm with the creation of a new pedestrian street.

 

Phase One

Building work started on Phase one (211 Old Street) in January 2014 comprising The Warehouse, 127,300 sq ft and The Studio, 22,109 sq ft, and is due for completion in July 2015. During this process rental income is still being received on the retail parade and the office building at 207 Old Street. The basement area under the retail parade has been let to Gym Box at a rent of £150,000 pa.

 

The current letting position on Phase one is as follows:-

 

Total

sq ft

 

Let

sq ft

 

Rent

psf

 

Tenants

The Warehouse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Offices

122,000

 

24,434

 

£50.25

 

Farfetch

Restaurants

5,300

 

4,682

 

 

 

Bone Daddies, The Draft House

 

127,300

 

29,116

 

 

 

 

The sixth, eighth and ninth floors of The Warehouse are under offer (29,601 sq ft).

The Studio

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Offices

18,363

 

18,363

 

£40.00-£45.00

John Brown Media

Restaurants

3,746

 

3,746

 

 

 

Honest Burger, Enoteca da Luca

 

22,109

 

22,109

 

 

 

 

Empire House

 

 

 

 

£ pa

 

 

Hotel

17,315

 

17,315

 

650,000

 

Z Hotels

Restaurant

3,411

 

3,411

 

140,000

 

Ceviche

 

20,726

 

20,726

 

790,000

 

 

 

Phase Two

Comprising The Tower (207 Old Street), planning has been obtained to comprehensively refurbish the existing building of 114,900 sq ft NIA, increasing the building to 170,000 sq ft NIA of office and 7,300 sq ft of retail/A3. Works are due to commence in July 2015.

 

Barts Square, EC1

In joint venture with The Baupost Group LLC (Baupost 66.7%, Helical 33.3%), we own the freehold interest in land and buildings at Bartholomew Close, Little Britain and Montague Street, a 3.2 acre site adjacent to the new Barts Hospital and just south of Smithfield Market. Existing buildings are let to the NHS on a number of short term leases that expire in 2016.

 

Planning consent has been obtained for a comprehensive redevelopment of 19 buildings to provide a total of 236 residential apartments, three office buildings of 211,000 sq ft, 23,485 sq ft and 10,200 sq ft, 16,300 sq ft of retail /A3 at ground floor as well as major public realm improvements, which will be incorporated into the wider Smithfield Area Strategy being worked up by the City of London.

 

Phase One - Residential/offices/retail

Phase one of the redevelopment of Barts Square, comprising 144 residential units, 10,200 sq ft of retail space, 23,485 sq ft of new offices behind retained facades, the refurbishment of offices at 54-58 Bartholomew Close and public realm improvements.  The demolition of buildings in Bartholomew Close and Little Britain commenced in January 2015, with the retention of various facades behind which the buildings are being demolished. Completion of Phase one is expected in summer 2017. 92 residential units were launched in September 2014 and 64 have been sold for a total sales value of c. £87m at an average £1,574 psf.

 

Phase Two - One Bartholomew Close

Demolition of the existing buildings and the construction of a new 12 storey office block of c. 211,000 sq ft, to be called One Bartholomew Close, will commence in 2016, once vacant possession of the building is achieved. The building is due to be completed in 2018.

 

Phase Three - Residential/retail

Phase three of the redevelopment of the site, involving the demolition of Queen Elizabeth II House, 62 Bartholomew Close and 45-47 Little Britain is expected to commence after vacant possession of these buildings is obtained at the end of 2016. In their place, 92 residential units and 10,700 sq ft of retail space will be constructed.

 

Clifton Street, Shoreditch EC2

In November 2013, we committed to forward purchase a new 45,000 sq ft (NIA) office building in Clifton Street, London EC2 for £21m. Since contracting to acquire the building, Helical has worked with the developer to achieve a revised planning consent and to refine the building's specifications to ensure it meets the demands of the Shoreditch tech occupiers. It was intended that the Group would complete the freehold purchase upon practical completion of the construction in summer 2015. However, on 30 September 2014, Helical exchanged contracts on the forward sale of 99 Clifton Street for £38.25m, allowing the Group to recognise development profits of £16.4m in the year.

 

One Creechurch Place, City of London EC3

One Creechurch Place, London EC3 is a landmark City office scheme in the heart of the insurance sector in London. In May 2014, Helical signed a joint venture agreement with HOOPP (Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan) to redevelop the site. Under the terms of the joint venture, HOOPP and Helical will jointly fund the project on a 90:10 split, with Helical acting as development manager for which it will receive a promote payment depending on the successful outcome of the scheme. It is anticipated the completed development will have a capital value of c. £250m. Demolition and ground works have been completed to facilitate the construction of a new building comprising 271,000 sq ft NIA of offices and 2,227 sq ft of retail, which is expected to be completed in September 2016.

 

C-Space, 37-45 City Road, EC1

Helical acquired C-Space in June 2013. Planning consent has been obtained for a complete refurbishment of the building which will increase the previous existing 50,000 sq ft office building to 62,000 sq ft. The works involve an additional floor and extensions to the third floor, a landscaped courtyard and entrance "pavilion" to the rear and full height glazing to the raised ground floor. Works have commenced and are expected to complete by August 2015. Significant interest is being shown by prospective tenants and we expect to let c. 75% of the new space before completion.

 

 

23-28 Charterhouse Square, Smithfield EC1

In December 2014, Helical exchanged contracts to acquire a new 155 year leasehold interest in 23-28 Charterhouse Square, London EC1 from the Governors of Sutton's Hospital in Charterhouse for £16m. The Group plan to carry out a major refurbishment of the existing building, increasing the current 34,000 sq ft to 38,600 sq ft NIA of offices and 5,350 sq ft of retail/restaurant use with the addition of a new sixth floor. Works are due to commence in December 2015 and the completed building is expected to be delivered in late 2016.

 

King Street,Hammersmith W6

King Street, Hammersmith W6 is a mixed use scheme, in joint venture with Grainger plc, for the regeneration of the west end of King Street. Planning permission for the scheme was granted in April 2014 for 196 apartments, a three screen cinema to be operated by Curzon, new retail, restaurant and café space and replacement offices for the Council with a new public square. During the period the joint venture acquired the existing cinema which is now let on a short term basis to the current operator. Work is expected to commence in late 2015.

 

Shepherds Building, Shepherds Bush, W14

This 151,000 sq ft multi-let office building close to the Westfield London shopping centre maintains an occupancy approaching 100%, as it has for seven consecutive years. The refurbishment of the common parts including new receptions and a café/bar is now complete. These works have given the building a refresh and have been positively received by occupiers. Significant rental growth is beginning to be seen with ERV now c. £50 psf compared to an average passing rent of £30.50 psf. The most recent significant letting in the building in February 2015 was at £47.50 psf.

 

New Loom House, Whitechapel E1

This 112,000 sq ft listed building was acquired in 2013 and Helical has secured planning consent for a comprehensive refurbishment/reconfiguration of the common parts to include a new entrance/reception, showers, bike store, refurbishment of c.15,000 sq ft of offices, including the creation of a single 11,000 sq ft unit and 4,000 sq ft of café and restaurants. The works are underway and are due for completion in early 2016. Strong rental growth is already being achieved with new lettings being done at £37.50 psf compared to an average passing rent of £22.00 psf. Further increases in rents are anticipated as the opening of Crossrail approaches.

 

Enterprise House, Paddington W2

Enterprise House, Paddington W2 is a freehold investment adjacent to Paddington Station in London comprising 45,000 sq ft of offices. The building was acquired on a sale and lease back agreement from Network Rail, which holds a 20 year lease without breaks, for c.£31m representing a 5.7% yield generating annual rental income of £1.8m.

 

Artillery Lane, Bishopsgate E1

Artillery Lane, Bishopsgate, E1 is an office building in the City of London. The building is undergoing work to provide 17,000 sq ft of newly refurbished offices. Acquired for £6.8m in 2013 the property has been sold to Standard Life for £15.1m once the refurbishment works which will cost £3.2m are completed in September 2015. A new 25 year lease with Manicomio has been signed on the ground and lower ground floor to operate a restaurant.

 

One King Street, Hammersmith, London W6

One King Street, Hammersmith W6 is a 35,000 sq ft building acquired in 2012 comprising 22,000 sq ft of offices and 13,000 sq ft of retail. Refurbishment of the fourth floor and the addition of a fifth floor of offices on top of the building is expected to be completed by August 2015 providing 3,500 sq ft of extra space.

 

Chart House, Islington N1

Chart House is a 10,500 sq ft office building in Islington which was acquired during the year. There is currently planning consent for an additional floor of residential on top of the building. It is our intention to renegotiate the planning consent and add an extra floor of office accommodation in place of the planned residential upon getting vacant possession in 2018.

 

The Regional Portfolio 

Our regional portfolio provides significant income for the Group. We have a broad spread of income providing diversity between tenants and sectors of the market. Our £419.6m regional investment portfolio comprises £103.5m of offices (13.0% of the investment portfolio), £145.7m of industrial/logistics (18.5%) £159.1m of retail comprising £97.9m of retail warehousing and £61.2m of in town retail, largely Cardiff (in aggregate 20.2%) and £11.3m of retirement village investment assets (1.4%).

 

Our strategy is to acquire multi-tenanted properties where there is significant opportunity to increase net operating income and capital values. We acquire properties with rents which are low compared to equivalent buildings, providing scope for rental growth. We spend a considerable amount of time talking to our tenants both prior to acquiring properties and during the course of our ownership to ensure that the space they occupy continues to be fit for their purpose.

 

Distribution Warehouses

 

Helical has 36 distribution and light industrial units located around major UK transport networks. These units generally have very few bespoke features making them straightforward to re-let if vacancies occur. In the majority the assets are single let with a few multi-let estates. Significant assets within the portfolio include a 250,000 sq ft distribution warehouse let to Sainsbury's in Yate, Bristol, a 200,000 sq ft facility in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, a 190,000 sq ft distribution warehouse in Hinckley, Leicestershire let to Triumph Motorcycles and a 150,000 sq ft distribution warehouse let to Polypipe in Doncaster, Yorkshire.

 

Regional Offices

 

Churchgate and Lee House, Manchester

Helical acquired Churchgate and Lee House, two interlinked office buildings comprising 248,000 sq ft of offices, in March 2014. We have refurbished the reception, café and fourth floor of Churchgate House and continue to reposition the asset. Projects are underway to refurbish the first floor of Lee House and the Courtyard Suite where we hope to attract the TMT Sector. We are also remodelling the reception of Lee House. Since acquisition we have let in excess of 30,000 sq ft and have a further 10,000 sq ft under offer.

 

Dale House, Manchester

Dale House is a 43,000 sq ft office building situated in the Northern Quarter of Manchester. It is fully let to a number of tenants with an average rent of £12.00 psf and was acquired in March 2015 for £7.4m. The property is a long term hold with plans to refurbish the building over time and moving rents upwards as the location improves.

 

St Vincent Street, Glasgow

In partnership with local development partner, Dawn Developments Ltd, Helical is the development manager for the construction of the new headquarters building for Scottish Power at St Vincent Street, Glasgow. The completed building will comprise circa 220,000 sq ft of prime office space in the heart of the City's commercial district. Funded by M&G Investments, the scheme is under construction and all works including Scottish Power's fit out, are due to be completed in February 2016. As part of the overall deal, Helical is taking on three existing Scottish Power sites which are surplus to requirements. At Cathcart we have received planning permission for a change of use of the grounds of Cathcart House to 158 residential units and will look to sell the site. At Yoker, we have agreed heads of terms with a supermarket operator to sell the site and at Falkirk we have agreed a sale of the site with completion expected in October 2015.

 

Retail Warehousing

We have acquired a number of retail warehouse assets during the year including properties in Harrogate, Stockport, Southend-on-Sea, Scarborough, Ellesmere Port and Stoke-on-Trent. We see good occupational demand in this sector with vacancy levels at a long term low.

 

Retail Developments

 

Parkgate, Shirley, West Midlands

The Shopping Centre at Parkgate, Shirley, where Helical has a 50% interest has completed on site and the 80,000 sq ft Asda together with a number of other retailers have opened successfully for trade. The space beyond the food-store is 80% pre-let to occupiers such as Peacocks, 99p Stores, Pizza Express, Wetherspoons, Prezzo, Shoe Zone and Shirley Library. Two residential sites have been sold to provide 97 private and extra-care units, six apartments and eight townhouses which are being built out directly. The food-store has been pre-sold to Asda and the retail units will be marketed for sale once the remaining units are let.

 

A second phase high density residential led scheme is being considered on a ten acre site of opposite the Parkgate scheme. Terms have been agreed with a care home provider, a residential developer and a supermarket operator for a petrol filling station. 

 

Truro

In Truro Helical has entered into a Conditional Purchase Agreement on the six acre Truro City Football Club site and have submitted a Planning Application for a 78,000 sq ft non-food retail park. The scheme proposals provide for the relocation of the football club and, if approved, we anticipate starting on site in May 2016.

 

Cortonwood

Planning consent has been secured at appeal and marketing is in hand for an 80,000 sq ft Open A1 non-food retail park. Negotiations are proceeding with a number of leading fashion retailers and a start on site in anticipated in January 2016, once funding has been obtained.

 

Park Handlowy Mlyn, Wroclaw

Wroclaw is a large city in West Poland, some 100km from the German border and 470km south of Warsaw. This 9,600 sq m (103,000 sq ft) out-of-town retail development was completed in December 2008 and is fully let to a number of domestic and international retailers including Sports Direct, T K Maxx, Media Expert, Makro, Deichmann, Smyk, Komfort and others. We have agreed terms to sell the development at a price marginally above book value and expect to complete the sale by July 2015.

 

Europa Centralna, Gliwice

This retail park and shopping centre was built in 50:50 joint venture with clients of Standard Life. The scheme is situated to the south of Gliwice at the intersection of the A4 and A1 motorways. This highly visible scheme has good accessibility and is becoming a major regional shopping destination. It comprises approximately 66,000 sq m (720,000 sq ft) of retail space, incorporating three distinct parts; being a foodstore, DIY and household goods and fashion outlets. The scheme is now over 85% let to Tesco, Castorama, H & M, Media Saturn, Sports Direct, Jula and others. Construction was completed in February 2013 and the scheme opened on 1 March 2013. Helical's sale of 50% in 2011 includes a provision that we will sell the remaining ownership stake two years after the date of completion of the development to the same clients of Standard Life. This is now expected to complete in June 2015.

 

Retirement Villages

A retirement village is a private residential community in which active over-55s are able to live independently in retirement. Residents have typically down-sized from a larger family home into a cottage or apartment which ensures no maintenance or security issues.

 

With access to a central clubhouse containing a bar and restaurant facilities, health and fitness rooms and surrounded by maintained grounds, this retirement option is proving increasingly popular. We have four retirement village developments.

 

Bramshott Place, Liphook, Hampshire

The original Bramshott Place Village was an Elizabethan mansion built in 1580, although now only the original Grade II listed Tudor Gatehouse remains which Helical has fully restored. The land and buildings were derelict when we acquired the site in 2001. Changing planning from its previously designated employment use to a retirement village took several years but was eventually achieved in 2006.

 

The development of 151 cottages and apartments, and the new clubhouse, has completed. To date, we have sold 147 units with one reserved and just three units, all apartments, left to sell.

 

Durrants Village, Faygate, Horsham, West Sussex

Durrants Village, a 30 acre site, had operated as a saw-mill with outside storage for many years. Helical was granted planning permission, at appeal, in May 2009 where the Inspector allowed a development comprising a retirement village of 148 units, eight affordable housing units, a 50 bed residential care home and a central facilities clubhouse building. Following changes to the scheme the development will now comprise 173 units. The first phase started in May 2012 for the construction of the retirement village and clubhouse and we have sold 28 units, exchanged on one further sale and have reservations on 10 additional units in the first two phases.

 

Maudslay Park, Great Alne, Warwickshire

This is a Green Belt site which has 320,000 sq ft of built footprint and benefits from Major Development Site planning policy. Covering 82 acres, this site received outline planning permission in April 2011 for a retirement village of 164 units. Demolition and enabling works have completed but construction has been delayed by the receivership of the contractor.  We have reservations on three units.

 

Millbrook Village, Exeter

This 19 acre site was acquired in 2007 from the St Loye's Foundation, a long established rehabilitation college in the City of Exeter. Resolution to grant planning permission was obtained in October 2009 for a retirement village of 206 units, a 50 bed residential care home, an affordable extra-care block of 50 units and a central facilities clubhouse building. Demolition, site clearance and archaeological survey work have been completed. In 2011 we received planning consent for 63 open market housing units on part of the site and sold this in summer 2012. Construction of a 164 unit retirement village and clubhouse in phases on the remainder of the site commenced in October 2013. We have sold seven units, have exchanged contracts on a further four units and have reservations on 22 other units.

Consolidated Income Statement

For the year ended 31 March 2015

Note

Year ended 31.3.15

£000

Year ended

31.3.14

£000

Revenue

2

106,341

123,637

Net rental income

3

34,233

24,402

Development property profit

4

15,674

62,825

Trading property gain

5

2,503

252

Share of results of joint ventures

16

27,497

16,448

Other operating income

 

368

230

Gross profit before net gain on sale and revaluation of investment properties

 

80,275

104,157

Net gain on sale and revaluation of investment properties

6

69,384

29,325

Impairment of available for sale assets

19

(773)

(88)

Gross profit

 

148,886

133,394

Administrative expenses

7

(26,530)

(26,676)

Operating profit

 

122,356

106,718

Finance costs

8

(23,678)

(13,983)

Finance income

8

2,480

4,135

Change in fair value of derivative financial instruments

 

(8,389)

5,312

Change in fair value of convertible bond

 

(3,263)

-

Foreign exchange losses

 

(2,061)

(501)

Profit before tax

2

87,445

101,681

Taxation on profit on ordinary activities

9

(12,669)

(14,126)

Profit after tax

 

74,776

87,555

- attributable to equity shareholders

 

74,489

87,603

- attributable to non-controlling interests

 

287

(48)

Profit for the year

 

74,776

87,555

Basic earnings per share

12

64.6p

75.0p

Diluted earnings per share

12

60.8p

73.2p

 

 

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

For the year ended 31 March 2015

Note

Year ended 31.3.15

£000

Year ended

31.3.14

£000

Profit for the year

 

74,776

87,555

Impairment of available-for-sale investments

19

-

(936)

Exchange difference on retranslation of net investments in foreign operations

 

149

51

Total comprehensive income for the year

 

74,925

86,670

- attributable to equity shareholders

 

74,638

86,718

- attributable to non-controlling interests

 

287

(48)

Total comprehensive income for the year

 

74,925

86,670

 

Consolidated and Company Balance Sheets

As at 31 March 2015

Note

Group

31.3.15

£000

Group

31.3.14

£000

Company

31.3.15

£000

Company

31.3.14

£000

Non-current assets

 

 

 

 

 

Investment properties

13

701,521

493,201

-

-

Owner occupied property, plant and equipment

15

2,361

1,050

2,292

949

Investment in subsidiaries

 

-

-

36,585

36,584

Investment in joint ventures

16

71,585

62,980

15

15

Derivative financial instruments

 

1

1,867

-

315

Trade and other receivables

20

1,555

7,673

-

-

Deferred tax asset

10

-

8,458

1,233

749

Total non-current assets

 

777,023

575,229

40,125

38,612

Current assets

 

 

 

 

 

Land, developments and trading properties

17

92,578

98,160

-

-

Property derivative financial asset

18

16,388

-

-

-

Available-for-sale investments

19

4,342

4,973

-

-

Corporate tax receivable

 

1,418

-

1,418

-

Trade and other receivables

20

65,216

33,337

777,728

491, 437

Cash and cash equivalents

21

120,993

63,237

13,942

30,376

 

 

300,935

199,707

793,088

521,813

Total assets

 

1,077,958

774,936

833,213

560,425

 

 

 

 

 

 

Current liabilities

 

 

 

 

 

Trade and other payables

22

(65,802)

(49,230)

(416,696)

(235,578)

Corporate tax payable

 

-

(5,370)

-

(2,908)

Borrowings

23

(45,428)

(1,275)

(6,120)

-

 

 

(111,230)

(55,875)

(422,816)

(238,486)

Non-current liabilities

 

 

 

 

 

Trade and other payables

22

-

(2,150)

-

-

Borrowings

23

(552,813)

(374,811)

(169,109)

(82,399)

Derivative financial instruments

 

(8,096)

(1,573)

(11,080)

(192)

Deferred tax liability

10

(1,456)

-

-

-

 

 

(562,365)

(378,534)

(180,189)

(82,591)

Total liabilities

 

(673,595)

(434,409)

(603,005)

(321,077)

Net assets

2

404,363

340,527

230,208

239,348

 

 

 

 

 

Group

31.3.15

£000

Group

31.3.14

£000

Company

31.3.15

£000

Company

31.3.14

£000

Equity

 

 

 

 

 

Called-up share capital

25

1,447

1,447

1,447

1,447

Share premium account

 

98,798

98,678

98,798

98,678

Revaluation reserve

 

108,060

33,106

-

-

Capital redemption reserve

 

7,478

7,478

7,478

7,478

Other reserves

 

291

291

1,987

1,987

Retained earnings

 

188,229

200,455

120,498

129,758

Own shares held

 

-

(950)

-

-

Equity attributable to equity holders of the parent company

 

404,303

340,505

230,208

239,348

Non-controlling interests

 

60

22

-

-

Total equity

 

404,363

340,527

230,208

239,348

 

Consolidated and Company Cash Flow Statements

For the year to 31 March 2015

Group

31.3.15

£000

Group

31.3.14

£000

Company

31.3.15

£000

Company

31.3.14

£000

Cash flows from operating activities

 

 

 

 

Profit/(loss) before tax

87,445

101,681

(1,780)

29,549

Depreciation

544

719

517

653

Revaluation gain on investment properties

(66,904)

(20,714)

-

-

Gain on sales of investment properties

(2,480)

(8,611)

-

-

Profit on sale of plant and equipment

(23)

-

-

-

Net financing costs

20,806

9,529

6,260

1,121

Change in value of derivative financial instruments

8,389

(5,312)

-

(1,098)

Profit on forward property contract

(16,388)

-

-

-

Change in fair value of Convertible Bond

3,263

-

-

-

Share based payment charge

6,432

6,333

-

-

Share of results of joint ventures

(27,497)

(16,448)

-

-

Impairment of available for sale assets

773

88

-

-

Foreign exchange movement

2,213

109

3,014

-

Other non-cash items

-

(10)

(23)

(10)

Cash inflow from operations before changes in working capital

16,573

67,364

7,988

30,215

Change in trade and other receivables

(25,975)

3,680

(286,291)

(165,193)

Change in land, developments and trading properties

4,125

(11,306)

-

-

Change in trade and other payables

13,162

16,096

182,976

87,763

Cash inflow/(outflow) generated from operations

7,885

75,834

(95,327)

(47,215)

Finance costs

(22,277)

(17,645)

(12,216)

(6,087)

Finance income

2,480

1,236

5,157

1,810

Tax paid

(7,064)

(6,903)

(6,841)

(6,903)

 

(26,861)

(23,312)

(13,900)

(11,180)

Cash flows from operating activities

(18,976)

52,522

(109,227)

(58,395)

Cash flows from investing activities

 

 

 

 

Purchase of investment property

(271,093)

(199,944)

-

-

Sale of investment property

133,209

56,914

-

-

Cost of cancelling interest rate swap

-

8

-

-

Investment in subsidiaries

-

-

(1)

(150)

Investment in joint ventures

(10,141)

(650)

-

-

Return of investment in joint ventures

11,778

2,668

-

-

Dividends from joint ventures

17,013

1,350

-

-

Available for sale asset additions

(144)

-

-

-

Sale of plant and equipment

23

34

23

34

Purchase of leasehold improvements, plant and equipment

(1,859)

(646)

(1,859)

(646)

Net cash used in investing activities

(121,214)

(140,266)

(1,837)

(762)

Cash flows from financing activities

 

 

 

 

Borrowings drawn down

375,503

274,369

104,200

80,000

Shares Issued

120

-

120

-

Borrowings repaid

(156,381)

(152,636)

(1,746)

(7,842)

Purchase of own shares

(13,349)

(950)

-

-

Equity dividends paid

(7,944)

(6,660)

(7,944)

(6,660)

Net cash generated from financing activities

197,949

114,123

94,630

65,498

Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents

57,759

26,379

(16,434)

6,341

Exchange losses on cash and cash equivalents

(3)

(5)

-

-

Cash and cash equivalents at 1 April

63,237

36,863

30,376

24,035

Cash and cash equivalents at 31 March

120,993

63,237

13,942

30,376

 

 

Consolidated and Company Statements of Changes in Equity

For the year to 31 March 2015

Group

Share

capital

£000

Share

premium

£000

Revaluation

reserve

£000

Capital

redemption

reserve

£000

Other

reserves

£000

Retained

earnings

£000

Own

shares

held

Non-

controlling

interests

£000

Total

£000

At 31 March 2013

1,447

98,678

10,593

7,478

291

135,211

-

70

253,768

Total comprehensive income/(expense)

-

-

-

-

-

86,718

-

(48)

86,670

Revaluation surplus

-

-

20,714

-

-

(20,714)

-

-

-

Realised on disposals

-

-

1,799

-

-

(1,799)

-

-

-

Performance share plan

-

-

-

-

-

6,333

-

-

6,333

Share settled bonus

-

-

-

-

-

1,366

-

-

1,366

Purchase of own shares

-

-

-

-

-

-

(950)

-

(950)

Dividends paid

-

-

-

-

-

(6,660)

-

-

(6,660)

At 31 March 2014

1,447

98,678

33,106

7,478

291

200,455

(950)

22

340,527

Total comprehensive income

-

-

-

-

-

74,638

-

287

74,925

Revaluation surplus

-

-

66,904

-

-

(66,904)

-

-

-

Realised on disposals

-

-

8,050

-

-

(8,050)

-

-

-

Payment to minority interest

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

(249)

(249)

Performance share plan

-

-

-

-

-

6,432

-

-

6,432

Performance share plan deferred tax          

-

-

-

-

-

2,477

-

-

2,477

Share settled bonus

-

-

-

-

-

1,424

-

-

1,424

New share capital issued

-

120

-

-

-

-

-

-

120

Dividends paid

-

-

-

-

-

(7,944)

-

-

(7,944)

Purchase of own shares

-

-

-

-

-

-

(13,349)

-

(13,349)

Own shares held reserve transfer

-

-

-

-

-

(14,299)

14,299

-

-

At 31 March 2015

1,447

98,798

108,060

7,478

291

188,229

-

60

404,363

                         

 

For a breakdown of Total comprehensive income/expense, see the Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income.

 

Included within changes in equity are net transactions with owners of £10,840,000 (2014: £89,000) made up of: the performance share plan charge of £6,432,000 (2014: £6,333,000) and related deferred tax of £2,477,000 (2014: £nil), dividends paid of £7,944,000 (2014: £6,660,000), the purchase of own shares of £13,349,000 (2014: £950,000), new share capital issued of £120,000 (2014: £nil) and the share settled bonuses of £1,424,000 (2014: £1,366,000).

 

The adjustment to retained earnings of £6,432,000 adds back the performance share plan charge (2014: £6,333,000), in accordance with IFRS 2 Share-Based Payments.

 

 

Company

Share

capital

£000

Share

premium

£000

Revaluation

reserve

£000

Capital

redemption

reserve

£000

Other

reserves

£000

Retained

earnings

£000

Total

£000

At 31 March 2013

1,447

98,678

-

7,478

1,987

113,346

222,936

Total comprehensive income

-

-

-

-

-

23,072

23,072

Dividends paid

-

-

-

-

-

(6,660)

(6,660)

At 31 March 2014

1,447

98,678

-

7,478

1,987

129,758

239,348

Total comprehensive income

-

-

-

-

-

(1,316)

(1,316)

Dividends paid

-

-

-

-

-

(7,944)

(7,944)

Shares issues

-

120

-

-

-

-

120

At 31 March 2015

1,447

98,798

-

7,478

1,987

120,498

230,208

 

Total comprehensive income is made up of the loss after tax of £1,316,000 (2014: gain of £23,072,000).

Included within changes in equity are net transactions with owners of £7,824,000 (2014: £6,660,000) made up of dividends paid of £7,944,000 (2014: £6,660,000) and new share capital issued of £120,000 (2014: £nil).

 

Notes:

Share capital - represents the nominal value of issued share capital.
Share premium - represents the excess of value of shares issued over their nominal value.
Revaluation reserve - represents the surplus/deficit of fair value of investment properties over their historic cost.
Capital redemption reserve - represents amounts paid to purchase issued shares for cancellation at their nominal value.
Retained earnings - represents the accumulated retained earnings of the Group.

 

Notes to the preliminary results

 

1.         Basis of preparation

 

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with applicable International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"), including International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee ("IFRIC") interpretations as adopted by the European Union and as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board ("IASB").

 

The Directors have taken advantage of the exemption offered by Section 408 of the Companies Act 2006 not to present a separate income statement for the parent company.

 

The financial statements have been prepared in Sterling (rounded to the nearest thousand) under the historical cost convention as modified by the revaluation of investment properties, available-for-sale investments and derivative financial instruments.

 

The principal accounting policies of the Group are set out in the Group's 2014 annual report and financial statements.  There has been no significant change to these since the previous annual report.

 

The financial information set out in this preliminary announcement does not constitute statutory accounts as defined in section 434 of the Companies Act 2006.

 

Responsibility statement

The Statement of Directors' responsibilities below has been prepared in connection with the Group's full Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2015. Certain parts of the Annual Report have not been included in the announcement. We confirm that to the best of our knowledge:

 

•  the financial statements, prepared in accordance with the relevant financial reporting framework, give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole; and

 

•  the annual review, which is incorporated into the Report of Directors, includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the position of the Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face.

 

Approved by the Board on 28 May 2015 and signed on its behalf by:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tim Murphy

Director

 

 

2.         Segmental information

 

IFRS 8 requires the identification of the Group's operating segments which are defined as being discrete components of the Group's operations whose results are regularly reviewed by the Chief Operating Decision Maker (being the Chief Executive) to allocate resources to those segments and to assess their performance. The Group divides its business into the following segments:

 

•    Investment properties, which are owned or leased by the Group for long-term income and for capital appreciation, and Trading properties which are owned or leased with the intention to sell; and,

 

•    Developments, which include sites, developments in the course of construction, completed developments available for sale, pre-sold developments and interest in third party developments.

 

Revenue

Investment

and trading

Year ended

31.3.15

£000

Developments

Year ended

31.3.15

£000

Total

Year ended

31.3.15

£000

Investment

and trading

Year ended

31.3.14

£000

Developments

Year ended

31.3.14

£000

Total

Year ended

31.3.14

£000

Rental income

37,246

1,086

38,332

27,994

2,000

29,994

Development property income

-

30,416

30,416

-

82,457

82,457

Trading property sales

37,394

-

37,394

8,230

-

8,230

Other revenue

199

-

199

2,956

-

2,956

Total revenue

74,839

31,502

106,341

39,180

84,457

123,637

               

 

All revenue is from external sales and is attributable to continuing operations. There were no inter-segmental sales.

 

Revenue for the year comprises revenue from construction contracts of £nil (2014: £nil), revenue from the sale of goods of £63,953,000 (2014: £62,965,000), revenue from services of £4,056,000 (2014: £30,678,000), and rental income of £38,332,000 (2014: £29,994,000).

 

All revenues are within the UK other than rental income from development properties in Poland of £1,086,000 (2014: £1,065,000) and £630,000 (2014: £835,000) of development income derived from the Group's operations in Poland.

 

Profit before tax

Investment

and trading

Year ended

31.3.15

£000

Developments

Year ended

31.3.15

£000

Total

Year ended

31.3.15

£000

Investment

and trading

Year ended

31.3.14

£000

Developments

Year ended

31.3.14

£000

Total

Year ended

31.3.14

£000

Net rental income

33,270

963

34,233

22,764

1,638

24,402

Development property profit

-

15,674

15,674

-

62,825

62,825

Trading property profit

2,503

-

2,503

252

-

252

Share of results of joint ventures

27,398

99

27,497

18,882

(2,434)

16,448

Gain on sale and revaluation of investment properties

69,384

-

69,384

29,325

-

29,325

 

132,555

16,736

149,291

71,223

62,029

133,252

Impairment of available for sale assets

 

 

(773)

 

 

(88)

Other operating income

 

 

368

 

 

230

Gross profit

 

 

148,886

 

 

133,394

Administrative expenses

 

 

(26,530)

 

 

(26,676)

Finance costs

 

 

(23,678)

 

 

(13,983)

Finance income

 

 

2,480

 

 

4,135

Change in fair value of derivative financial instruments

 

 

(8,389)

 

 

5,312

Change in fair value of Convertible Bond

 

 

(3,263)

 

 

-

Foreign exchange losses

 

 

(2,061)

 

 

(501)

Profit before tax

 

 

87,445

 

 

101,681

                       

 

Net assets

Investment

and trading

Year ended

31.3.15

£000

Developments

Year ended

31.3.15

£000

Total

Year ended

31.3.15

£000

Investment

and trading

Year ended

31.3.14

£000

Developments

Year ended

31.3.14

£000

Total

Year ended

31.3.14

£000

Investment properties

701,521

-

701,521

493,201

-

493,201

Land, development and trading properties

28

92,550

92,578

2,528

95,632

98,160

Investment in joint ventures

57,209

14,376

71,585

58,460

4,520

62,980

Property derivative financial asset

-

16,388

16,388

-

-

-

 

758,758

123,314

882,072

554,189

100,152

654,341

Owner occupied property, plant and equipment

 

 

2,361

 

 

1,050

Derivative financial instruments

 

 

1

 

 

1,867

Deferred tax assets

 

 

-

 

 

8,458

Available-for-sale investments

 

 

4,342

 

 

4,973

Trade and other receivables

 

 

66,771

 

 

41,010

Corporation tax receivable

 

 

1,418

 

 

-

Cash and cash equivalents

 

 

120,993

 

 

63,237

Total assets

 

 

1,077,958

 

 

774,936

Liabilities

 

 

(673,595)

 

 

(434,409)

Net assets

 

 

404,363

 

 

340,527

                     

 

 

3.         Net rental income

 

Year ended 31.3.15

 £000

Year ended

31.3.14

£000

Gross rental income

38,332

29,994

Rents payable

(269)

(476)

Property overheads

(3,489)

(4,328)

Net rental income

34,574

25,190

Net rental income attributable to profit share partner

(341)

(788)

Group share of net rental income

34,233

24,402

 

Property overheads include lettings costs, vacancy costs and bad debt provisions.

 

The amounts above include gross rental income from investment properties of £37,246,000 (2014: £27,994,000) and net rental income from investment properties of £33,270,000 (2014: £22,764,000).

 

No contingent rental income was received in the year (2014: £nil).

 

4.         Development property profit

 

Year ended 31.3.15

£000

Year ended

31.3.14

£000

Development property income

30,416

82,457

Profit on forward property contract

16,388

-

Cost of sales

(30,136)

(15,613)

Sales expenses

(542)

(4,571)

Provision against book values

(452)

552

Development property profit

15,674

62,825

 

5.         Trading property gain

 

Year ended 31.3.15

£000

Year ended

31.3.14

£000

Trading property sales

37,394

8,230

Cost of sales

(33,512)

(7,945)

Sales expenses

(1,379)

(33)

Trading property gain

2,503

252

 

6.         Net gain on sale and revaluation of investment properties

 

Year ended 31.3.15

£000

Year ended

31.3.14

£000

Net proceeds from the sale of investment properties

133,782

57,971

Book value (note 13)

(130,729)

(48,303)

Tenants incentives on sold investment properties

(573)

(1,057)

Gain on sale of investment properties

2,480

8,611

Revaluation surplus on investment properties

66,904

20,714

Gain on sale and revaluation of investment properties

69,384

29,325

 

 

7.         Administrative expenses

 

Year ended 31.3.15

£000

Year ended

31.3.14

£000

Administrative expenses

(26,530)

(26,676)

 

 

Administrative expenses include salaries paid to Directors of £2,515,000 (2014: £2,430,000), cash bonuses accrued of £4,847,000 (2014: £4,732,000), deferred bonuses of £nil (2014: £2,926,000), a charge for deferred shares awarded of £1,424,000 (2014: £1,366,000) and a share-based payments charge of £5,815,000 (2014: £5,799,000).

Operating profit is stated after the following items that are contained within administrative expenses:

 

 

Depreciation

 

 

                   - owner occupied property, plant and equipment

544

719

Share-based payments charge

6,432

6,333

Auditor's remuneration:

 

 

Audit fees

 

 

                   - audit of parent company and consolidated financial statements

154

150

                   - audit of Company's subsidiaries

62

52

                   - audit of interim consolidated financial statements

68

42

                   - audit of Company's subsidiaries by affiliate of Group auditor

3

12

Operating lease costs

730

574

         

 

8.         Finance costs and finance income

 

Year ended 31.3.15

£000

Year ended

31.3.14

£000

Interest payable on bank loans and overdrafts

(21,055)

(14,298)

Other interest payable and similar charges

(6,264)

(2,520)

Interest capitalised

3,641

2,835

Finance costs

(23,678)

(13,983)

 

 

 

Interest receivable and similar income

2,480

1,236

Gain on purchase of loan

-

2,899

Finance income

2,480

4,135

 

During the year to 31 March 2014, the Group purchased a loan from one of its lenders, realising a gain of £2,899,000. On projects where specific third party loans have been arranged, interest has been capitalised in accordance with IAS23 - Borrowing costs, at the rate for the individual loan. The weighted average capitalised interest rate of such loans was 3.68% (2014: 3.57%). Where general finance has been used to fund the acquisition and construction of properties, the rate used was a weighted average of the financing costs for the applicable borrowings of 4.62% (2014: 4.60%).

 

 

9.         Taxation on profit on ordinary activities

 

Year ended 31.3.15 £000

Year ended

31.3.14

£000

The tax charge is based on the profit for the year and represents:

 

 

United Kingdom corporation tax at 21% (2014: 23%)

 

 

                   - Group corporation tax

(215)

(11,687)

                   - adjustment in respect of prior periods

(22)

(403)

                   - overseas tax

(39)

(113)

Current tax charge

(276)

(12,203)

Deferred tax at 20% (2014: 20%)

 

 

                   - capital allowances

(297)

1,157

                   - tax losses

3,033

(1,746)

                   - unrealised chargeable gains

(15,096)

(1,598)

                   - other temporary differences

(33)

264

Deferred tax charge

(12,393)

(1,923)

Tax charge on profit on ordinary activities

(12,669)

(14,126)

 

10.       Deferred tax

 

Deferred tax provided for in the financial statements is set out below:

 

Group

31.3.15

£000

Group

31.3.14

£000

Company

31.3.15

£000

Company

31.3.14

£000

Capital allowances

(1,561)

(1,264)

60

99

Tax losses

12,021

8,988

1,173

363

Unrealised chargeable gains

(16,687)

(1,598)

-

-

Other temporary differences

4,771

2,332

-

287

Deferred tax (liability)/asset

(1,456)

8,458

1,233

749

 

Other temporary differences represent deferred tax assets arising from the recognition of the fair value of derivative financial instruments, unrestricted gains and future tax relief available to the Group from capital allowances and when share awards vest.

 

The Group contains entities with tax losses for which no deferred tax asset is recognised. The total unrecognised losses amount to approximately £9,036,000. A deferred tax asset has not been recognised because the entities in which the losses have been generated either do not have forecast taxable profits or the losses have restrictions whereby their utilisation is considered to be unlikely.

 

If upon the sale of the investment properties the Group retained all the capital allowances, the deferred tax provision in respect of capital allowances of £1,561,000 (2014: £1,264,000) would be released and further capital allowances of £18,031,000 (2014: £11,400,000) would be available to reduce future tax liabilities.

 

 

11.       Dividends paid and payable

 

 

Year ended 31.3.15

£000

Year ended

31.3.14

£000

Attributable to equity share capital

 

 

Ordinary

 

 

                   - interim paid of 2.10p (2014: 2.00) per share

2,406

2,337

                   - prior period final paid of 4.75p (2014: 3.70p) per share

5,538

4,323

Total dividends paid and payable in year - 6.85p (2014: 5.70p) per share

7,944

6,660

 

An interim dividend of 2.10p was paid on 30 December 2014 to shareholders on the register on 12 December 2014. The final dividend of 5.15p, if approved at the AGM on 24 July 2015, will be paid on 31 July 2015 to shareholders on the register on 3 July 2015. This final dividend, amounting to £5,899,000, has not been included as a liability as at 31 March 2015, in accordance with IFRS.

 

12.       Earnings per share

 

The calculation of the basic earnings per share is based on the earnings attributable to ordinary shareholders divided by the weighted average number of shares in issue during the year. This is a different basis to the net asset per share calculations which are based on the number of shares at the year end. Shares held by the ESOP, which has waived its entitlement to receive dividends, are treated as cancelled for the purposes of this calculation.

 

The calculation of diluted earnings per share is based on the basic earnings per share, adjusted to allow for the effect of all dilutive options and awards.

 

The earnings per share are calculated in accordance with IAS 33, Earnings per Share and the best practice recommendations of the European Public Real Estate Association ("EPRA"). Reconciliations of the earnings and weighted average number of shares used in the calculations are set out below.

 

 

Earnings per share

Year ended 31.3.15

000

Year ended

31.3.14

000

Ordinary shares in issue

118,184

118,138

Weighting adjustment

(2,897)

(1,323)

Weighted average ordinary shares in issue for calculation of basic earnings per share

115,287

116,815

Weighted average ordinary shares issued on exercise of share options

-

46

Weighted average ordinary shares to be issued on share settled bonuses

1,016

451

Weighted average ordinary shares to be issued under performance share plan

6,182

2,389

Weighted average ordinary shares in issue for calculation of diluted earnings per share

122,485

119,701

 

£000

£000

Earnings used for calculation of basic and diluted earnings per share

74,489

87,603

Basic earnings per share

64.6p

75.0p

Diluted earnings per share

60.8p

73.2p

 

 

Year ended 31.3.15

£000

Year ended 31.3.14

£000

Earnings used for calculation of basic and diluted earnings per share

74,489

87,603

Net gain on sale and revaluation of investment properties

(69,384)

(29,325)

Share of net gain on revaluation of investment properties in the results of joint ventures

(27,225)

(15,710)

Tax on profit on disposal of investment properties

-

1,981

Trading property gain

(2,503)

(252)

Fair value movement on derivative financial instruments

8,389

(5,312)

Fair value movement on Convertible Bond

3,263

-

Share of fair value movements on derivative financial instruments in the results of joint ventures

578

(1,001)

Impairment of available-for-sale investment

773

88

Deferred tax

14,425

862

Earnings used for calculation of EPRA earnings per share

2,805

38,934

Performance related awards

15,647

11,613

Earnings used for calculation of adjusted earnings per share

18,452

50,547

 

 

 

EPRA earnings per share

2.4p

33.3p

Adjusted earnings per share

16.0p

43.3p

 

The earnings used for calculation of EPRA earnings per share includes net rental income and development property profits but excludes trading property losses.

 

 

13.       Investment properties

 

Freehold

31.3.15

£000

Leasehold

31.3.15

£000

Total

31.3.15

£000

Freehold

31.3.14

£000

Leasehold

31.3.14

£000

Total

31.3.14

£000

Group

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fair value at 1 April

450,276

42,925

493,201

288,076

23,950

312,026

Property acquisitions

191,280

79,813

271,093

183,357

16,587

199,944

Transfer from land, developments, and trading properties

-

-

-

-

8,600

8,600

Disposals

(112,089)

(18,640)

(130,729)

(41,870)

(6,433)

(48,303)

Revaluation surplus

61,376

5,528

66,904

20,493

221

20,714

Revaluation surplus attributable to profit share partner

1,027

25

1,052

220

-

220

Fair value at 31 March

591,870

109,651

701,521

450,276

42,925

493,201

 

Interest capitalised during the year in respect of the refurbishment of investment properties amounted to £667,000 (2014: £nil).

 

Interest capitalised in respect of the refurbishment of investment properties is included in investment properties to the extent of £5,449,000 (2014: £4,782,000).

 

Investment properties with a total fair value of £628,621,000 (2014: £474,200,000) were held as security against borrowings.

 

The fair value of the Group's investment property as at 31 March 2015 was determined by independent external valuers at that date, except for investment properties valued by the Directors. The valuations are in accordance with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors ('RICS') Valuation - Professional Standards ("The Red Book") and the International Valuation Standards and were arrived at by reference to market transactions for similar properties. Fair values for investment properties are calculated using the present value income approach. The main assumptions underlying the valuations are in relation to rent profile and yields as discussed below. A key driver of the property valuations is the terms of the leases in place at the valuation date. These determine the cash flow profile of the property for a number of years. The valuation assumes adjustments from these rental values to current market rent at the time of the next rent review (where a typical lease allows only for upward adjustment) and as leases expire and are replaced by new leases. The current market level of rent is assessed based on evidence provided by the most recent relevant leasing transactions and negotiations. The nominal equivalent yield is applied as a discount rate to the rental cash flows which, after taking into account other input assumptions such as vacancies and costs, generates the market value of the property. The equivalent yield applied is assessed by reference to market transactions for similar properties and takes into account, amongst other things, any risks associated with the rent uplift assumptions.

The net initial yield is calculated as the current net income over the gross market value of the asset and is used as a sense check and to compare against market transactions for similar properties. The valuation output, along with inputs and assumptions, are reviewed to ensure these are in line with what a market participant would use when pricing each asset.

 

The investment properties have been valued at 31 March 2015 as follows:

 

31.3.15 £000

31.3.14

£000

Cushman & Wakefield LLP

697,521

493,200

Directors' valuation

4,000

1

 

701,521

493,201

The historical cost of investment property is £590,965,000 (2014: £457,781,000).

 

14.       Operating lease arrangements

 

The Group earns rental income by leasing its investment properties to tenants under non-cancellable operating leases. At the balance sheet date, the Group had contracted with tenants to receive the following future minimum lease payments:

 

Group 31.3.15

£000

Group

31.3.14

£000

Not later than one year

39,393

29,065

Later than one year but not more than five years

104,268

81,237

More than five years

159,001

104,240

 

302,662

214,542

 

The Company has no operating lease arrangements as lessor.

 

At the balance sheet date, the Group and Company had outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases, which fall due as follows:

 

Group 31.3.15

£000

Group

31.3.14

£000

Not later than one year

281

-

Later than one year but not more than five years

3,273

2,735

More than five years

7,773

8,592

 

11,327

11,327

 

15.       Owner occupied property, plant and equipment

           

             Group

 

Short

leasehold

improvements

31.3.15

£000

Plant and

equipment

31.3.15

£000

Total

31.3.15

£000

Short

leasehold

improvements

31.3.14

£000

Plant and

equipment

31.3.14

£000

Total

31.3.14

£000

Cost at 1 April

2,373

935

3,308

2,071

825

2,896

Additions at cost

1,695

164

1,859

302

344

646

Disposals

(2,061)

(91)

(2,152)

-

(234)

(234)

Cost at 31 March

2,007

1,008

3,015

2,373

935

3,308

Depreciation at 1 April

1,811

447

2,258

1,283

460

1,743

Provision for the year

361

183

544

528

187

715

Eliminated on disposals

(2,061)

(87)

(2,148)

-

(200)

(200)

Depreciation at 31 March

111

543

654

1,811

447

2,258

Net book amount at 31 March

1,896

465

2,361

562

488

1,050

 

Plant and equipment include vehicles, fixtures and fittings and other office equipment.

 

All short leasehold improvements, plant and equipment relate to the Company except for plant and equipment with a net book value of £69,000 as at 31 March 2015 (2014: £101,000).

 

 

16.       Investment in joint ventures

 

Investment

& trading

31.3.15

£000

Development

31.3.15

£000

Total

31.3.15

£000

Investment

& trading

31.3.14

£000

Development

31.3.14

£000

Total

31.3.14

£000

 Summarised statements of consolidated income

Revenue

5,523

575

6,098

6,351

250

6,601

Gross rental income

5,523

575

6,098

6,351

250

6,601

Rents payable

(809)

-

(809)

(625)

-

(625)

Property overheads

(683)

(194)

(877)

(671)

132

(539)

Net rental income

4,031

381

4,412

5,055

382

5,437

Development profits

-

1,902

1,902

-

2,199

2,199

Profit/(Loss) on sale of property

1,087

4

1,091

(31)

-

(31)

Gain on revaluation of investment properties

26,134

-

26,134

15,710

-

15,710

Impairment of held for sale investment

-

-

-

-

(4,792)

(4,792)

Other operating income/(expense)

(1)

294

293

302

70

372

Administrative expenses

(291)

(660)

(951)

(94)

-

(94)

Finance costs

(2,254)

(1,390)

(3,644)

(3,027)

(24)

(3,051)

Finance income

4

39

43

369

170

539

Change in fair value movement of derivative financial instruments

(578)

-

(578)

1,001

-

1,001

Profit/(loss) before tax

28,132

570

28,702

19,285

(1,995)

17,290

Tax

(734)

(471)

(1,205)

(403)

(439)

(842)

Profit/(loss) after tax

27,398

99

27,497

18,882

(2,434)

16,448

 

 

Investment

& trading

31.3.15

£000

Development

31.3.15

£000

Total

31.3.15

£000

Investment

& trading

31.3.14

£000

Development

31.3.14

£000

Total

31.3.14

£000

Summarised balance sheets

 

 

 

 

 

Non-current assets

 

 

 

 

 

 

Investment properties

88,205

100

88,305

107,504

-

107,504

Owner occupied property, plant and equipment

-

42

42

21

-

21

Deferred tax

256

278

534

139

27

166

 

88,461

420

88,881

107,664

27

107,691

Current assets

 

 

 

 

 

 

Land, development and trading properties

-

61,782

61,782

-

27,165

27,165

Trade and other receivables

1,468

1,258

2,726

1,937

1,256

3,193

Cash and cash equivalents

7,030

6,423

13,453

4,292

11,500

15,792

 

8,498

69,463

77,961

6,229

39,921

46,150

Current liabilities

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trade and other payables

(3,947)

(20,749)

(24,696)

(3,649)

(35,428)

(39,077)

Borrowings

-

-

-

(12,453)

-

(12,453)

 

(3,947)

(20,749)

(24,696)

(16,102)

(35,428)

(51,530)

Non-current liabilities

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trade and other payables

(5,590)

(19,842)

(25,432)

(8,464)

-

(8,464)

Borrowings

(29,503)

(14,916)

(44,419)

(30,389)

-

(30,389)

Derivative financial instruments

(473)

-

(473)

(51)

-

(51)

Deferred tax

(237)

-

(237)

(427)

-

(427)

 

(35,803)

(34,758)

(70,561)

(39,331)

-

(39,331)

Net assets

57,209

14,376

71,585

58,460

4,520

62,980

 

The cost of the Company's investment in joint ventures was £15,000 (2014: £15,000).

 

The Directors' valuation of the trading and development stock shows a surplus of £11,013,000 above book value (2014: £1,760,000).

 

At 31 March 2015 the Group and the Company had interests in the following joint venture companies:

 

 

Country of

incorporation

Class of share capital held

Proportion

held Group

Proportion

held Company

Nature of business

Barts Two Investment Property Ltd

Jersey

Ordinary

33%

33%

Investment

Barts Close Office Limited

Jersey

Ordinary

33%

33%

Investment

Barts Square First Office Limited

Jersey

Ordinary

33%

33%

Investment

Barts Square Active One Limited

Jersey

Ordinary

33%

33%

Investment

Barts Square First Limited

United Kingdom

Ordinary

33%

33%

Development

Barts Square Land One Limited

United Kingdom

Ordinary

33%

33%

Development

207 Old Street Unit Trust

Jersey

n/a

33%

-

Investment

211 Old Street Unit Trust

Jersey

n/a

33%

-

Investment

Old Street Retail Unit Trust

Jersey

n/a

33%

-

Investment

City Road (Jersey) Ltd

Jersey

Ordinary

33%

-

Investment

Old Street Holdings LP

Jersey

n/a

33%

-

Investment

Helical Sosnica Sp. zoo.

Poland

Ordinary

50%

-

Development

Abbeygate Helical (Leisure Plaza) Ltd

United Kingdom

Ordinary

50%

50%

Development

Abbeygate Helical (Winterhill) Ltd

United Kingdom

Ordinary

50%

50%

Development

Abbeygate Helical (C4.1) LLP

United Kingdom

n/a

50%

50%

Development

Shirley Advance LLP

United Kingdom

n/a

50%

-

Development

King Street Developments (Hammersmith) Ltd

United Kingdom

Ordinary

50%

-

Development

Creechurch Place Limited

Jersey

Ordinary

10%

-

Development

 

The Group's investment in Helical Sosnica Sp. zoo. has been accounted for as an investment held for sale due to a commitment to sell the Group's share within the next year. At 31 March 2015 Helical Sosnica Sp. zoo. held a development property, the fair value of which the Directors believe to be £81,866,000 (of which Helical's share is £40,933,000) and a bank loan of £51,156,000 (of which Helical's share is £25,578,000) repayable in September 2017.

 

17.       Land, developments and trading properties

 

Group

Development

properties

31.3.15

£000

Trading

stock

31.3.15

£000

Total

31.3.15

£000

Development

properties

31.3.14

£000

Trading

stock

31.3.14

£000

Total

31.3.14

£000

At 1 April

95,632

2,528

98,160

90,346

2,528

92,874

Acquisitions and construction costs

21,131

31,012

52,143

32,863

-

32,863

Interest capitalised

3,381

-

3,381

2,835

-

2,835

Transfer to investment properties

-

-

-

(8,600)

-

(8,600)

Disposals

(25,685)

(33,512)

(59,197)

(22,109)

-

(22,109)

Foreign exchange movements

(1,457)

-

(1,457)

(255)

-

(255)

Provision

(452)

-

(452)

552

-

552

At 31 March

92,550

28

92,578

95,632

2,528

98,160

 

The Company had no land, developments or trading properties (2014: none)

 

 

The Directors' valuation of trading and development stock shows a surplus of £25,230,000 above book value (2014: £25,719,000).

 

Interest capitalised in respect of the development of sites is included in stock to the extent of £9,788,000 (2014: £7,743,000).

 

Land, developments and trading properties with carrying values totalling £83,948,000 (2014: £77,676,000) were held as security against borrowings.

 

18.        Forward property contract

 

Group

31.3.15

£000

Group

31.3.14

£000

Company

31.3.15

£000

Company

31.3.14

£000

Forward property contract

16,388

-

-

-

 

16,388

-

-

-

 

The Group has assigned its forward purchase contract on 99 Clifton Street to a third party. The agreement to assign the forward purchase contract is considered to be a derivative financial instrument. As such, under IAS 39, it is carried at its fair value with gains and losses taken to the Income Statement. The fair value inputs represent Level 2 fair value measurements as defined by IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement. The fair value of this assignment contract at 31 March 2015 is £16,388,000, being the contracted cash receipt of £17.3m discounted for risk and the time value of money. The gain of £16,388,000 has been taken to the Income Statement as a development profit.

 

 

19.       Available-for-sale investments

31.3.15

£000

31.3.14

£000

At 1 April

4,973

5,997

Additions

144

-

Disposals

(2)

-

Impairment in the year

(773)

(1,024)

At 31 March

4,342

4,973

 

Included within current available-for-sale investments is an amount lent to a company promoting a mainly residential mixed-use development and a holding of 20% of the equity of this company.

 

The loan and the equity are classed as an available-for-sale investment and held at fair value. They are considered to be Level 3 of the IFRS 13 fair value hierarchy. The Group has determined its fair value by considering both the loan and the equity element separately. The loan element is valued at the fair value of the expected consideration to be received including anticipated future costs of recovering this loan. This amount has been impaired in the year due to a revision in the expected receipt. The value of the available-for-sale investment is 100% sensitive to changes in the expected repayment proceeds. The equity element is given a £nil value with the Group valuing the underlying company on a break up basis at £nil as it is believed that this is the most probable outcome. This £nil valuation is derived because the Group believe that the value of the property and any other of the company's assets, after the repayment of the loan payable to the Group, would be required to repay the outstanding creditors leaving negligible value to the shareholders.

 

The Group does not consider that it has significant influence over this company despite having 20% of the equity as another party owns a majority shareholding and the Group does not have a representative on the Board of the company.

 

The decline in value of £773,000 has been recognised in the Income Statement.

 

20.       Trade and other receivables

 

 

Group

31.3.15

£000

Group

31.3.14

£000

Company

31.3.15

£000

Company

31.3.14

£000

Trade receivables

13,987

9,390

97

356

Amounts owed by joint venture undertakings

42,220

25,347

40

20,451

Amounts owed by subsidiary undertakings

-

-

776,550

470,119

Other receivables

879

231

853

337

Prepayments and accrued income

9,685

6,042

188

174

 

66,771

41,010

777,728

491,437

 

Included within Trade receivables of the Group at 31 March 2015 is £1,555,000 (2014: £6,673,000) due in 2016 which is shown as a non-current asset in the Balance Sheet. Included within Prepayments and accrued income of the Group is a prepayment of £1,000,000 (2014: £1,000,000) for the purchase of a property due to complete later in 2015.

 

 

21.       Cash and cash equivalents

 

 

Group

31.3.15

£000

Group

31.3.14

£000

Company

31.3.15

£000

Company

31.3.14

£000

Rent deposits and cash held at managing agents

3,049

4,107

3

-

Restricted cash

91,955

12,721

2

-

Cash deposits

25,989

46,409

13,937

30,376

 

120,993

63,237

13,942

30,376

 

Restricted cash is made up of amounts held by solicitors and amounts in blocked accounts. Of this balance, £70,166,000 was held in a blocked account due to a bank refinancing of assets and is expected to be released in June 2015.

 

22.       Trade and other payables

 

 

Group

31.3.15

£000

Group

31.3.14

£000

Company

31.3.15

£000

Company

31.3.14

£000

Trade payables

9,868

11,074

440

323

Social security costs and other taxation

5,156

4,615

-

-

Amounts owed to subsidiary undertakings

-

-

412,690

232,788

Other payables

3,420

3,699

44

-

Accruals

37,834

24,302

3,522

2,467

Deferred income

9,524

7,690

-

-

 

65,802

51,380

416,696

235,578

 

Included within Deferred income is £nil (2014: £2,150,000) which is due after more than one year.

 

23.       Borrowings

 

 

Group

31.3.15

£000

Group

31.3.14

£000

Company

31.3.15

£000

Company

31.3.14

£000

Current borrowings

45,428

1,275

6,120

-

Borrowings repayable within:

 

 

 

 

                   - one to two years

136,091

13,904

-

3,540

                   - two to three years

3,617

102,403

-

-

                   - three to four years

83,608

100,562

-

-

                   - four to five years

175,177

79,083

90,067

-

                   - five to six years

80,060

-

79,042

-

                   -six to ten years

74,260

78,859

-

78,859

Non-current borrowings

552,813

374,811

169,109

82,399

 

Bank overdrafts and term loans in creditors falling due within one year and after one year are secured against properties held in the normal course of business by subsidiary undertakings to the value of £712,569,000 (2014: £551,876,000). These will be repayable when the underlying properties are sold. Bank overdrafts and term loans exclude the Group's share of borrowings in joint venture companies of £44,419,000 (2014: £42,842,000).

 

Convertible Bond

On 17 June 2014 the Group issued £100m convertible bonds at par with a 4% coupon rate which are due for settlement on 17 June 2019 (the "Bonds"). The Bonds can be converted from 28 July 2014 up to and including 7 July 2017, if the share price has traded at a level exceeding 135% of the exchange price for a specified period, and from 8 July 2017 to (but excluding) the seventh dealing day before 17 June 2019 at any time. On conversion, the Group can elect to settle the Bonds by any combination of ordinary shares and cash. The Convertible Bond is included at its carrying amount of £103,263,000 in borrowings repayable within four to five years.

 

Retail Bond

On 24 June 2013 the Group issued an £80m fixed rate retail bond at 6% per annum and with a maturity date of 24 June 2020. Under certain circumstances, the bonds can be repaid early. The Retail Bond is included at its amortised cost of £79,042,000 in borrowings repayable within five to six years.

 

24.       Financing and derivative financial instruments

 

The policies for dealing with liquidity and interest rate risk are noted in Appendix 5 - Risk Register.

 

 

Group 31.3.15 £000

Group

31.3.14

£000

Borrowings - maturity

 

 

Due after more than one year

552,813

374,811

Due within one year

45,428

1,275

 

598,241

376,086

 

The Group has various undrawn committed borrowing facilities. The facilities available at 31 March 2015 in respect of which all conditions precedent had been met were as follows:

 

 

Group 31.3.15 £000

Group

31.3.14

£000

Expiring in one year or less

14,147

10,000

Expiring in more than one year but not more than two years

3,982

6,335

Expiring in more than two years but not more than three years

-

37,735

Expiring in more than three years but not more than four years

33,161

-

Expiring in more than four years but not more than five years

2,840

36,481

 

54,130

90,551

 

 

 

Interest rates - Group

%

Expiry

31.3.15

£000

%

Expiry

31.3.14

£000

Fixed rate borrowings:

 

 

 

 

 

 

          - swap rate plus bank margin

3.480

Dec 2024

80,862

-

-

-

          - fixed rate Retail Bond

6.000

Jun 2020

80,000

6.000

Jun 2020

80,000

          - swap rate plus bank margin

4.500

Jan 2020

75,000

-

-

-

          - swap rate plus bank margin

4.070

Jul 2019

30,000

-

-

-

          - fixed rate Convertible Bond

4.000

Jun 2019

100,000

-

-

-

          - swap rate plus bank margin

4.525

Feb 2019

75,630

4.525

Feb 2019

75,630

          - swap rate plus bank margin

4.020

May 2018

10,800

4.020

May 2018

10,800

          - swap rate plus bank margin

3.365

Jan 2016

9,172

4.015

Jan 2016

9,172

          - swap rate plus bank margin

4.070

Jan 2016

11,100

-

-

-

          - swap rate plus bank margin

3.510

May 2015

21,375

4.160

May 2015

21,375

          - swap rate plus bank margin

-

-

-

3.958

Jan 2015

50,000

          - swap rate plus bank margin

-

-

-

5.957

Jan 2015

11,429

          - swap rate plus bank margin

-

-

-

5.645

Oct 2014

6,690

          - swap rate plus bank margin

-

-

-

4.240

Nov 2017

26,400

Weighted average

4.366

Mar 2019

493,939

4.766

Dec 2016

291,496

Floating rate borrowings

2.438

Nov 2016

101,039

3.476

Mar 2017

84,590

Fair value adjustment of Convertible Bond

 

 

3,263

 

 

-

Total borrowings

4.026

Aug 2019

598,241

4.462

May 2018

376,086

 

Changes in fixed borrowing rates are the result of stepped increases in interest rate swaps rates. Floating rate borrowings bear interest at rates based on LIBOR.

 

At 31 March 2015 the Company had £30,000,000 and £11,000,000 interest rate swaps, both at 4.07% and expiring in July 2019 and January 2016 respectively. Interest is fixed on the Retail Bond and Convertible Bond as shown above, with the remaining borrowings being at floating rate.

 

At 31 March 2015 the Company had no fixed rate borrowings (2014: £6,690,000 at 5.645%).

 

In addition to the borrowings above, the Group has a £50,000,000 interest rate swap at 1.865% starting in June 2016 and expiring in June 2026.

 

Economic hedging

In addition to the fixed rates, borrowings are also hedged by the following financial instruments:

 

Instrument

Value

£000

Rate

%

Start

Expiry

Current:       - cap

50,000

4.000

Apr 2011

Apr 2015

                            - cap

25,000

4.000

Apr 2011

Apr 2016

                            - cap

25,000

4.000

Jul 2013

Jul 2016

                            - cap

25,000-75,000

4.000

Apr 2015

Jan 2017

                            - cap

7,200

4.000

Jan 2012

Oct 2016

                            - cap

11,037-10,613

4.000

Jan 2015

Jan 2016

                          - cap

25,000

4.000

Jul 2013

Jul 2016

 

 

Where a range in capped values is shown, these reflect stepped increases/decreases over the life of the cap.

Gearing

Group 31.3.15

£000

Group

31.3.14

£000

Total debt

598,241

376,086

Cash

(120,993)

(63,237)

Net debt

477,248

312,849

 

Net debt excludes the Group's share of debt in joint ventures of £44,419,000 (2014: £42,842,000), and cash of £13,453,000 (2014: £15,792,000).

 

Group

31.3.15

£000

Group

31.3.14

£000

Net assets

404,363

340,527

Gearing

118%

92%

 

25.       Share capital

 

31.3.15

£000

31.3.14

£000

Authorised

39,577

39,577

 

39,577

39,577

 

The authorised share capital of the Company is £39,576,626.60 divided into ordinary shares of 1p each and deferred shares of 1⁄8p each.

 

 

31.3.15

£000

31.3.14

£000

Allotted, called up and fully paid

 

 

                   - 118,183,806 ordinary shares of 1p each

1,182

1,182

                   - 212,145,300 deferred shares of 1⁄8p each

265

265

 

1,447

1,447

 

Shares

in issue

31.3.15

Number

Share

capital

31.3.15

£000

Shares

in issue

31.3.14

Number

Share

capital

31.3.14

£000

Ordinary shares

 

 

 

 

At 1 April and 31 March

118,183,806

1,182

118,137,522

1,182

Deferred shares

 

 

 

 

At 1 April and 31 March

212,145,300

265

212,145,300

265

             

 

Capital Management

The Group's capital management objectives are:

-           to ensure the Group's ability to continue as a going concern; and,
-           to provide an adequate return to shareholders.

 

The Group sets the amount of capital in proportion to its overall financing structure. It manages the capital structure and makes adjustments to it in the light of changes in economic conditions and the risk characteristics of the underlying assets. In order to maintain or adjust the capital structure, the Group may adjust the amount of dividends paid to shareholders, return capital to shareholders, issue new shares, or sell assets to reduce debt. Capital is defined as being issued share capital, share premium, retained earnings, revaluation reserve and other reserves (2015: £396,825,000; 2014: £333,977,000). The Group continually monitors its gearing level to ensure that it is appropriate. Gearing increased from 92% to 118% in the year as the Group took advantage of favourable debt market conditions.

 

The deferred shares were issued on 23 December 2004 to those shareholders electing to receive a dividend, rather than a capital repayment or further shares in the Company, as part of the Return of Cash approved by shareholders on 20 December 2004. The deferred shares carry no voting rights and have no right to a dividend or capital payment in the event of a winding up of the Company.

 

The Company's Articles of Association give the Company irrevocable authority to purchase all or any of the deferred shares for a maximum aggregate total of 1 penny for all deferred shares in issue on the date of such purchase.

 

26.       Share options

 

At 31 March 2015 there were nil (2014: 46,284) unexercised options over new ordinary 1p shares in the Company. No options over purchased ordinary 1p shares held by the ESOP had been granted to directors and employees under the Company's share option schemes (31 March 2014: nil).

 

The Company uses a stochastic valuation model to value the share options.

Summary of share options

Number

31.3.15

Weighted

average

exercise

Price

31.3.15

Number

31.3.14

Weighted

average

exercise

Price

31.3.14

At 1 April

46,284

259.25

34,713

259.25

Options granted in prior years not previously recognised

-

-

11,571

259.25

Options exercised

(46,284)

(259.25)

-

-

At 31 March

-

-

46,284

259.25

 

The share price at the date of exercise was 344.25p.

 

27.       Share-based payments

 

The Group provides share-based payments to employees in the form of performance share plan awards and a share incentive plan. The Group uses a stochastic valuation model and the resulting value is amortised through the Income Statement over the vesting period of the share-based payments.

 

Performance share plan awards

Awards

2015

Weighted

average

award

value

Awards

2014

Weighted

average

award

value

Outstanding at beginning of year

9,721,375

215p

9,310,162

211p

Awards vested during year

(1,707,216)

246p

-

-

Awards lapsed during the year

(1,021,711)

246p

(2,368,701)

276p

Awards made during the year

2,134,705

335p

2,779,914

244p

Outstanding at end of year

9,127,153

221p

9,721,375

215p

 

The performance share plan awards outstanding at 31 March 2015 had a weighted average remaining contractual life of one year.

 

The inputs into the stochastic model of valuation of the PSP awards made in the year to 31 March 2015 were as follows:

 

 

2015

2014

2013

Weighted average share price

355.0p

303.2p

203.4p

Weighted average exercise price

-

-

-

Expected volatility

n/a

n/a

n/a

Expected life

3 years

3 years

3 years

Risk free rate

n/a

n/a

n/a

Expected dividends

1.90%

2.20%

3.07%

 

The Group recognised a charge of £6,432,000 (2014: £6,333,000) during the year in relation to Share-based payments.

 

At the balance sheet date there were no exercisable awards.

 

28.       Own shares held

 

Following approval at the 1997 Annual General Meeting, the Company established the Helical Bar Employees' Share Ownership Plan Trust (the "Trust") to be used as part of the remuneration arrangements for employees. The purpose of the Trust is to facilitate and encourage the ownership of shares by or for the benefit of employees by the acquisition and distribution of shares in the Company.

 

The Trust purchases shares in the Company to satisfy the Group's obligations under its Share Option Schemes and Performance Share Plan. For this purpose, 3,790,000 shares (2014: 250,000) in the Company were purchased during the year at a cost of £13,349,000 (2014: £951,000).

 

At 31 March 2015, unexercised options over nil (2014: nil) ordinary 1p shares in Helical Bar plc had been granted over shares held by the Trust.

 

At 31 March 2015, outstanding awards over 9,127,000 (2014: 9,721,000) ordinary 1p shares in Helical Bar plc had been made under the terms of the Performance Share Plan over shares held by the Trust.

 

At 31 March 2015, the Trust held 3,625,000 shares (2014: 1,542,000).

 

29.       Contingent liabilities

 

The Company has entered into cross guarantees in respect of the banking facilities of its subsidiaries. These are not considered to have a material value.

 

Other than these contingent liabilities there were no contingent liabilities at 31 March 2015 for the Group or the Company (2014: £nil).

 

30.       Capital commitments

 

The Group has a commitment to purchase a property for £19.8m in 2015, discussed in further detail in note 18. A prepayment of £1m is included in prepayments and accrued income. The Group has a commitment of £86.8m in relation to construction contracts, which are due to be completed over the period to September 2018.

 

31.       Net assets per share

 

31.3.15

£000

Number

of shares

000s

31.3.15

pence

per share

31.3.14

£000

Number

of shares

000s

31.3.14

pence

per share

Net asset value

404,363

118,184

 

340,527

118,138

 

Less:  own shares held by ESOP

 

(3,625)

 

 

(1,542)

 

           deferred shares

(265)

 

 

(265)

 

 

Basic net asset value

404,098

114,559

353

340,262

116,596

292

Add: share settled bonus

 

1,016

 

 

451

 

Add: unexercised share options

-

-

 

120

46

 

Add: dilutive effect of the Performance Share Plan

 

6,256

 

 

1,121

 

Diluted net asset value

404,098

121,831

332

340,382

118,214

288

Adjustment for:

 

 

 

 

 

 

   - fair value of financial instruments

8,568

 

 

(243)

 

 

   - fair value movement on Convertible Bond

3,263

 

 

-

 

 

   - deferred tax

16,956

 

 

2,444

 

 

Adjusted diluted net asset value

432,885

121,831

355

342,583

118,214

290

Adjustment for:

 

 

 

 

 

 

   - fair value of trading and development properties

36,243

 

 

27,479

 

 

EPRA net asset value

469,128

121,831

385

370,062

118,214

313

Adjustment for:

 

 

 

 

 

 

   - fair value of financial instruments

(8,568)

 

 

243

 

 

   - deferred tax

(16,956)

 

 

(2,444)

 

 

EPRA triple net asset value

443,604

121,831

364

367,861

118,214

311

 

The net asset values per share have been calculated in accordance with the best practice recommendations of the European Public Real Estate Association ("EPRA").

     

The adjustments to the net asset value comprise the amounts relating to the Group and its share in joint ventures.

 

32.       Related party transactions

 

At 31 March 2015 and 31 March 2014 the following amounts were due in respect of the Group's joint ventures.

 

At 31.3.15

£000

At
31.3.14

£000

King Street Developments (Hammersmith) Ltd

5,280

3,050

Shirley Advance LLP

12,501

4,723

Barts Two Investment Property Ltd

-

146

Barts Square First Ltd

42

-

Helical Sosnica Sp. Zoo

6,000

11,900

207 Old Street Unit Trust

2,325

1,792

211 Old Street Unit Trust

1,801

1,701

Old St Retail Unit Trust

725

719

City Road (Jersey) Ltd

738

710

Old Street Holdings LP Ltd

100

100

Creechurch Place Ltd

12,132

-

All movements in joint venture balances related to loans repaid and loans advanced.

At 31 March 2015, there was an amount due to the Group of £347,000 (2014: £nil) by a company under common control.

At 31 March 2015 and 31 March 2014 there were the following balances between the Company and its subsidiaries.

 

 

31.3.15

£000

31.3.14

£000

Amounts due from subsidiaries

776,550

470,119

Amounts due to subsidiaries

412,690

232,788

 

During the years to 31 March 2015 and 31 March 2014 there were the following transactions between the Company and its subsidiaries:

 

 

Year ended

31.3.15

£000

Year ended

31.3.14

£000

Management charges receivable

10,795

8,372

Management charges payable

-

6,116

Interest receivable

2,294

2,837

Interest payable

3,125

-

 

Management charges relate to the performance of management services for the Company or its subsidiaries. Interest receivable relates to interest on loans made by the Company to its subsidiaries. All of these transactions, and the year-end balance sheet amounts arising from these transactions were conducted on an arm's length basis and on normal commercial terms. Amounts owed by subsidiaries to the Company are identified in note 20. Amounts owed to subsidiaries by the Company are identified in note 22.

 

 

 

Appendix 1 - See-through analysis

 

This analysis incorporates the separate components of the results of the consolidated subsidiaries and Helical's share of its joint ventures results into a 'See-through' analysis of our property portfolio, debt profile and the associated income streams and financing costs, to assist in providing a comprehensive overview of the Group's activities.

 

See-through net rental income and property overheads

Helical's share of the gross rental income, head rents payable and property overheads from property assets held in subsidiaries and in joint ventures are shown in the table below.

 

 

 

2011

£000

2012

£000

2013

£000

2014

£000

2015

£000

Gross rental income

- subsidiaries

18,590

23,058

25,816

29,994

38,332

 

- joint ventures

5,531

6,645

6,193

6,601

6,098

Total gross rental income

 

24,121

29,703

32,009

36,595

44,430

Rents payable

- subsidiaries

(24)

(418)

(342)

(476)

(269)

 

- joint ventures

(1,000)

(848)

(802)

(625)

(809)

Property overheads

- subsidiaries

(3,662)

(3,938)

(5,186)

(4,328)

(3,489)

 

- joint ventures

(941)

(737)

(510)

(539)

(877)

Net rental income attributable to profit share partner

 

(717)

(826)

(710)

(788)

(341)

See-through net rental income

 

17,777

22,936

24,459

29,839

38,645

 

See-through net development profits

Helical's share of development profits from property assets held in subsidiaries and in joint ventures are shown in the table below.

 

 

2011

£000

2012

£000

2013

£000

2014

£000

2015

£000

In parent and subsidiaries

 

(1,729)

5,166

7,616

62,273

16,126

In joint ventures

 

-

-

-

2,199

1,902

Total gross development profit

 

(1,729)

5,166

7,616

64,472

18,028

Provision against stock

 

(14,913)

(4,511)

(660)

552

(452)

See-through development profits

 

(16,642)

655

6,956

65,024

17,576

 

See-through net gain on sale and revaluation of investment properties

 

 

2011

£000

2012

£000

2013

£000

2014

£000

2015

£000

Revaluation surplus on investment properties

- subsidiaries

2,670

3,664

3,723

20,714

66,904

 

- joint ventures

798

581

3,109

15,710

26,134

Total revaluation surplus

 

3,468

4,245

6,832

36,424

93,038

Net gain/(loss) on sale of investment properties

- subsidiaries

4,842

(376)

(2,388)

8,611

2,480

 

- joint ventures

-

-

-

(31)

1,091

Total net gain/(loss) on sale of investment properties

 

4,842

(376)

(2,388)

8,580

3,571

See-through net gain on sale and revaluation of investment properties

8,310

3,869

4,444

45,004

96,609

 

See-through net finance costs

Helical's share of the interest payable, finance charges, capitalised interest and interest receivable on bank borrowings and cash deposits in subsidiaries and in joint ventures are shown in the table below.

 

 

 

2011

£000

2012

£000

2013

£000

2014

£000

2015

£000

Interest payable on bank loans and overdrafts

- subsidiaries

9,690

10,808

10,445

14,298

21,055

 

- joint ventures

1,704

2,223

2,269

3,051

3,644

Total interest payable on bank loans and overdrafts

 

11,394

13,031

12,714

17,349

24,699

Other interest payable and similar charges

- subsidiaries

1,481

901

1,658

2,520

6,264

Interest capitalised

- subsidiaries

(4,179)

(3,300)

(2,526)

(2,835)

(3,641)

Total finance costs

 

8,696

10,632

11,846

17,034

27,322

Interest receivable and similar income

- subsidiaries

(652)

(583)

(887)

(4,135)

(2,480)

 

- joint ventures

(11)

(12)

(66)

(539)

(43)

See-through net finance costs

 

8,033

10,037

10,893

12,360

24,799

               

 

See-through property portfolio

Helical's share of the investment, trading and development property portfolio in subsidiaries and joint ventures are shown in the table below.

 

 

 

2011

£000

2012

£000

2013

£000

2014

£000

2015

£000

Investment property

- subsidiaries

271,876

326,876

312,026

493,201

701,521

 

- joint ventures

65,870

67,187

94,962

107,504

88,305

Total investment property

 

337,746

394,063

406,988

600,705

789,826

Trading and development stock

- subsidiaries

147,542

99,741

92,874

98,160

92,578

 

- joint ventures

14,434

44,324*

76,698*

75,368*

102,715*

Total trading and development stock

 

161,976

144,065

169,572

173,528

195,293

Trading and development stock surplus

- subsidiaries

32,436

33,107

48,837

25,719

25,230

 

- joint ventures

-

1,435

1,028

1,760

11,013

Total trading and development stock surpluses

 

32,436

34,542

49,865

27,479

36,243

Total trading and development stock

 

194,412

178,607

219,437

201,007

231,536

See-through property portfolio

 

532,158

572,670

626,425

801,712

1,021,362

                   

*Trading and development stock of joint ventures includes the Group's share of development stock of Helical Sosnica Sp. Zoo (see note 16).

 

 

See-through net borrowings

Helical's share of borrowings and cash deposits in parent and subsidiaries and joint ventures are shown in the table below.

 

 

 

2011

£000

2012

£000

2013

£000

2014

£000

2015

£000

In parent and subsidiaries

- gross borrowings less than one year

37,500

59,203

39,295

       1,275

45,428

 

- gross borrowings more than one year

199,917

203,992

220,446

374,811

552,813

Total

237,417

263,195

259,741

376,086

598,241

In joint ventures

- gross borrowings less than one year

3,100

1,500

720

12,453

-

 

- gross borrowings more than one year

36,936

54,342*

72,509*

60,134*

69,997*

 

Total

40,036

55,842

73,229

72,587

69,997

In parent and subsidiaries

Cash and cash equivalents

(31,327)

(35,411)

(36,863)

(63,237)

(120,993)

In joint ventures

Cash and cash equivalents

(4,138)

(4,024) *

(12,757) *

(20,377) *

(15,348)*

See-through net borrowings

 

241,988

279,602

283,350

365,059

531,897

                   

*Gross borrowings in joint ventures include the Group's share of borrowings of Helical Sosnica Sp. Zoo (see note 16).

 

Appendix 2 - See-through Analysis Ratios

 

 

Interest cover

31.03.11

£000

31.03.12

£000

31.03.13

£000

31.03.14

£000

31.03.15

£000

Net rental income

17,777

22,936

24,459

29,839

38,645

Trading profits/(losses)

(367)

-

(1)

252

2,503

Development profits (before provisions)

(1,729)

5,166

7,616

64,472

18,028

Gain/(loss) on sale of investment properties

4,842

(376)

(2,388)

8,580

3,571

Net operating income

20,523

27,726

29,686

103,143

62,747

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finance costs

8,033

10,037

10,893

12,360

24,799

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interest cover

2.6x

2.8x

2.7x

8.3x

2.5x

 

 

 

 

 

 

Balance sheet

 

 

 

 

 

Property portfolio

532,158

572,670

626,425

801,712

1,021,362

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net borrowings

241,988

279,602

283,350

365,059

531,897

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shareholders' funds

255,397

253,730

253,768

340,527

404,363

EPRA net asset value

295,356

294,398

313,733

370,062

469,128

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loan to value

45%

49%

45%

46%

52%

Gearing

95%

110%

112%

107%

132%

Gearing based on EPRA net asset value

82%

95%

90%

99%

113%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix 3 - Five Year Review

 

Income Statements

 

31.3.11

£000

31.3.12

£000

31.3.13

£000

31.3.14

£000

31.3.15

£000

Revenue

119,059

52,968

65,439

123,637

106,341

Net rental income

14,187

17,876

19,578

24,402

34,233

Development profit/(loss)

(1,729)

5,166

7,616

62,273

16,126

Provisions against stock

(14,913)

(4,511)

(660)

552

(452)

Trading profit/(loss)

(367)

-

(1)

252

2,503

Share of results of joint ventures

2,886

2,472

3,854

16,448

27,497

Other income/(expense)

(358)

113

(547)

230

368

Gross profit/(loss) before gain/(loss) on investment properties

(294)

21,116

29,840

104,157

80,275

Gain/(loss) on sale of investment properties

4,842

(376)

(2,388)

8,611

2,480

Revaluation surplus on investment properties

2,670

3,664

3,723

20,714

66,904

Impairment of available-for-sale investments

(1,817)

-

-

(88)

(773)

Administrative expenses excluding performance related awards

(7,312)

(7,385)

(8,092)

(8,816)

(10,156)

Performance related awards

262

(415)

(6,828)

(17,860)

(16,374)

Finance costs

(6,992)

(8,409)

(9,577)

(13,983)

(23,678)

Finance income

652

583

887

4,135

2,480

Movement in fair value of derivative financial instruments

1,776

(306)

(2,573)

5,312

(8,389)

Convertible Bond adjustment

-

-

-

-

(3,263)

Foreign exchange (losses)/gains

(67)

(1,064)

17

(501)

(2,061)

Profit/(loss) before tax

(6,280)

7,408

5,009

101,681

87,445

Tax

2,391

158

815

(14,126)

(12,669)

Profit/(loss) after tax

(3,889)

7,566

5,824

87,555

74,776

               

 

Balance Sheets

 

31.3.11

£000

31.3.12
£000

31.3.13
£000

31.3.14

£000

31.3.15

£000

Investment portfolio

271,876

326,876

312,026

493,201

701,521

Land, developments and trading properties

147,542

99,741

92,874

98,160

92,578

Group's share of investment properties held by joint ventures

65,870

67,187

94,962

107,504

88,305

Group's share of land, trading and development properties held by joint ventures

14,434

15,709

23,797

27,165

61,782

Group's share of total properties

499,722

509,513

523,659

726,030

944,186

Net debt

206,090

227,784

222,878

312,849

477,248

Group's share of net debt of joint ventures

35,898

36,409

38,521

27,050

30,966

Shareholders' funds

255,397

253,730

253,768

340,527

404,363

Dividend per ordinary share

2.00p

4.90p

5.25p

5.70p

6.85p

EPRA earnings/(loss) per ordinary share

(6.4p)

3.4p

2.4p

33.3p

2.4p

EPRA net assets per share

253p

250p

264p

313p

385p

             

 

 

Appendix 4 - Property Portfolio

 

London Portfolio

Address

Held As

Description

Area

sq ft (NIA)

Vacancy rate

Shepherds Building, London W14

Investment

Multi let office building. Let to media companies

151,000

6%

The Bower,

London EC1

Investment

Office and retail buildings undergoing refurbishment and extension

414,000

n/a

New Loom House, London E1

Investment

Multi let office building with refurbishment underway

112,000

18%

C-Space,

London EC1

Investment

Office refurbishment scheme due for completion in August 2015

62,000

100%

Artillery Lane,

London E1

Investment

17,000 sq ft office building undergoing refurbishment

17,000

n/a

Enterprise House, London W2

Investment

Office building let to Network Rail for 20 years

45,000

-

One King Street,

London W6

Investment

Recently refurbished office and retail building adjacent to Hammersmith Broadway

35,000

14%

The Powerhouse, London W4

Investment

Single let recording studios/office building

43,000

-

Charterhouse Square, London EC1

Investment

Office building with scope for extension and refurbishment

34,000

-

Chart Street,

London N1

Investment

Single let office building with refurbishment and extension potential

10,500

-

Barts Square,

London EC1

Investment/

Development

244,685 sq ft offices, 236 residential apartments and 16,300 sq ft retail/leisure development under construction

466,000

n/a

Creechurch Place, London EC3

Development

New building due for completion September 2016

273,000

100%

Clifton Street,

London EC2

Development

Contract to buy a newly constructed office building following completion in summer 2015

45,000

n/a

King Street,

London W6

Development

Planning permission received for residential, office, retail and leisure scheme. Due to start on site early 2016.

500,000

n/a

 

 

 

2,207,500

 

 

 

Regional Portfolio

 

Address

Held As

Description

Area

sq ft (NIA)

Vacancy rate

In Town Retail

 

 

Birkenhead

Investment

Convenience supermarket

15,855

-

Cardiff, The Hayes

Investment

Prime retail parade and listed retail arcades with residential above

290,394

6.6%

Lancaster

Investment

Town centre bank branch

10,405

-

Leicester

Investment

Town centre shop

6,060

-

 

 

 

322,714

-

Out-of-town Retail

 

 

Cardiff, Ty Glas Road

Investment

Single let DIY store

42,469

-

Ellesmere Port

Investment

Single let retail park

36,258

-

Great Yarmouth

Investment

Single let retail park

38,771

-

Harrogate

Investment

Single let retail park

12,645

-

Huddersfield

Investment

Retail park

101,491

-

Leigh

Investment

Retail park

41,099

-

Scarborough

Investment

Retail park

28,970

-

Sevenoaks, Kent

Investment

Retail park

42,490

-

Southend on Sea

Investment

Retail park

74,954

-

Stockport

Investment

Single let retail park

31,803

-

Stoke on Trent

Investment

Retail park

68,973

-

 

 

 

519,923

-

Industrial/Logistics

 

 

Barking

Investment

Multi let industrial estate

25,783

-

Bedford

Investment

Multi let industrial estate

26,407

23%

Bedford

Investment

Single let distribution centre

36,023

-

Bolton

Investment

Single let cash and carry

73,433

-

Brownhills, Birmingham

Investment

Single let distribution centre

52,368

-

Burton-on-Trent

Investment

Single let distribution centre

92,715

-

Cannock

Investment

Single let distribution centre

153,665

-

Cannock

Investment

Single let distribution centre

103,050

-

Cardiff, Heol Billingsley

Investment

Single let distribution centre

50,684

-

Chichester

Investment

Multi let industrial estate

43,685

-

Daventry

Investment

Single let distribution centre

44,658

-

Doncaster, Aspect Way

Investment

Single let distribution centre

122,591

-

Doncaster, Kirk Sandalls

Investment

Single let distribution centre

153,547

-

Gloucester Quedgley

Investment

Multi let industrial estate

43,239

-

Gloucester IO

Investment

Multi let industrial estate

63,316

-

Gravesend

Investment

Multi let industrial estate

32,101

-

Havant

Investment

Single let distribution centre

38,914

-

Hinckley

Investment

Single let distribution centre

188,242

-

Leighton Buzzard

Investment

Multi let industrial estate

202,674

-

Maidenhead

Investment

Multi let industrial estate

25,434

-

Milton Keynes, Fingle Drive

Investment

Multi let industrial estate

21,814

-

Milton Keynes, Mailcom

Investment

Multi let industrial estate

25,282

-

Northampton

Investment

Multi let industrial estate

46,562

-

Northampton

Investment

Single let distribution centre

45,356

-

Rugby

Investment

Single let distribution centre

45,045

-

Telford

Investment

Single let distribution centre

65,225

-

Thetford

Investment

Single let distribution centre

127,256

-

Warrington, Calver Quay

Investment

Multi let industrial estate

70,594

-

Warrington, Raglan Court

Investment

Single let distribution centre

81,342

-

Wolverhampton

Investment

Single let distribution centre

119,600

-

Yate

Investment

Single let distribution centre

255,714

-

 

 

 

2,476,319

 

Regional Offices 

Bristol

Investment

Multi let office building

18,453

27%

Castle Donnington

Investment

Offices let to National Grid

25,471

-

Cheadle

Investment

Single let office building

16,470

-

Cobham

Investment

Single let office building

21,837

-

Crawley

Investment

Single let office building

48,131

-

Glasgow

Investment

Multi let office building

57,388

5%

Manchester, Churchgate & Lee

Investment

Multi let city centre office building with refurbishment and asset management potential

248,342

15%

Manchester, Dale House

Investment

Multi let city centre office building with refurbishment and asset management potential

42,282

-

Reading

Investment

Office building let to Thames Water

35,847

-

Sawston

Investment

Industrial and office park

19,151

13%

Sheffield

Investment

Single let office building

14,503

-

 

 

 

547,875

 

Regional Office Development 

Glasgow

Development

Pre-let to Scottish Power plc. Pre-sold to M&G

220,000

n/a

 

 

 

220,000

 

Change of Use 

Aycliffe and Peterlee

Investment

Restrictive covenants

0

n/a

Bracknell

Development

 

0

n/a

Hailsham

Development

 

0

n/a

Rugby, Cawston Abbey

Development

Residential land

0

n/a

Telford, Dawley Road

Development

Residential land

0

n/a

 

 

 

0

 

Polish Development 

Gliwice

Development

 

720,000

15%

Wroclaw

Development

 

103,486

-

 

 

 

823,486

 

Retail Development 

Helical Retail

Development

 

0

-

Milton Keynes C.4.1

Development

Ground rents

2,628

-

Milton Keynes Leisure Plaza

Development

Ice rink and development site

118,873

-

Shirley, Birmingham

Development

 

161,255

-

 

 

 

282,256

 

 

 

 

 

 

Address

Held As

Description

Units

Vacancy rate

Retirement Villages 

 

 

 

Millbrook, Exeter

Development

Retirement village development

164

n/a

Durrants Village, Faygate

Development

Retirement village development

173

n/a

Maudsley Park, Great Alne

Development

Retirement village development

164

n/a

Bramshott Place, Liphook

Development

Retirement village development

151

n/a

Penally Farm, Liphook

Development

Retirement village development

0

n/a

Bramshott Place Clubhouse

Investment

Clubhouse at retirement village

0

n/a

Durrants Village, Clubhouse

Investment

Clubhouse at retirement village

0

n/a

 

 

 

652

 

             

Appendix 5 - Risk Register

 

STRATEGIC RISK

Strategic risk includes the risk that the Group's business strategy or capital structure results in the Group underperforming the rest of the property sector, or being unable to take advantage of opportunities that may arise.

 

Risk description

Mitigation/action

Group's strategy is inconsistent with market conditions, for example:

-     Asset concentration/lot size impacts on liquidity (e.g. if investments become difficult to sell, does this affect our liquidity?)

-     Asset concentration/mix creates excessive volatility in property revaluation movements

Management constantly monitors and considers changes to the Group strategy in the light of any changes to market conditions. The management team is very experienced and has a good track record in the property market

Due to the small size of the Group and the management team, changes to the strategy can be effected quickly

 

MARKET RISK

Market risks are risks specific to the economy as a whole and to the property sector.

 

Risk description

Mitigation/action

Property values decline

Helical management reviews external data

Helical has been active in disposing of non-performing assets and rebalancing its portfolio for the changing market

Helical keeps a diversified portfolio to prevent being over-exposed to one sector

Reduced tenant demand for space

Our focus is on buying well let investment properties in good locations

We continue to ensure that vacant space is kept to a minimum

Appropriate timing of investment and divestment decisions

Our management team is highly experienced

Market conditions result in difficulties in divestment of properties at a time when the proceeds are required for new investments

Management constantly reviews the market conditions

 

 

FINANCIAL RISK

The Group is subject to a number of financial risks due to the way in which it is funded.

 

Risk description

Mitigation/action

Accuracy of property valuations

Helical uses external independent valuers and/or members of executive management with extensive experience in the industry. Management maintains regular contact with valuers to understand movements in valuations

Inability to roll over loans

Good relationship with several established lending institutions

Borrowing is spread between a number of different institutions

We arrange debt repayment dates to spread the maturity profile of bank loans over several years

Availability of bank lending

Funding requirements are regularly reviewed

Increase in cost of borrowing

Interest rates on 82% of loans are hedged

Hedging is regularly monitored to ensure that it remains at an appropriate level

Use of interest rate swaps and caps where appropriate

Breaching loan covenants

Adherence to loan covenants is closely monitored with reference to both current and forecast compliance

Breaching covenants of the retail bond

Adherence to the retail bond covenants is closely monitored

Insufficient liquidity to take advantage of opportunities

The Group maintains a sufficient level of cash resources or undrawn committed bank facilities

Management ensures that cash resources do not fall below current forecast requirements

Maintaining income streams/tenant default

Tenant covenant strength is considered when making property decisions

Management maintains dialogue with managing agents and tenants to reduce the risk of unexpected non-payment

Management ensures there is no over reliance on individual tenants

Inappropriate capital structure (i.e. too highly geared)

The Group's capital structure and gearing is constantly monitored to ensure that they reflect investment/development intentions and the Board's view on the property cycle

Loss of deposits due to banking counterparty failure

Management ensures that all deposits remain at well capitalised institutions

Regular monitoring of financial institutions

 

 

PEOPLE RISK

The Group's continued success is reliant on our management and staff and successful relationships with our joint venture partners.

 

Risk description

Mitigation/action

Succession planning

The Nominations Committee and the Board regularly review succession planning issues

Lack of the right personnel to ensure the Group's strategy is adhered to

Senior management team is very experienced

The Directors monitor staff resources to ensure they are appropriate to any changes in the business

Retention and incentivisation of key personnel

Remuneration is set to attract, motivate and retain high calibre staff

Employee turnover is low

Health & safety issues

The Group's Health and Safety policy is updated annually by the Board and reports are reviewed monthly by the Executive Committee and at every Board meeting

Use of specialist professional advice

Not involved in high risk activities

No significant issues reported in the year

Bribery and corruption risk

Anti-bribery policy and procedures are in place which are distributed to all staff. The Board is firmly behind the Group's anti-bribery stance

Management identify and monitor projects with a greater exposure to bribery and corruption

We avoid doing business in high risk territories

 

 

DEVELOPMENT RISK

The Group derives a significant part of its results from development activity. Development profits are more likely to be subject to fluctuation due to external factors as they are more opportunistic in nature.

 

Risk description

Mitigation/Action

Inability to add to the current development pipeline

Experienced development team with an excellent track record

Good reputation in the property sector

Inability to manage current developments

Experienced development team recently expanded to ensure adequate resources available

Changes in legislation leading to delays in receiving planning permission

Good relationships with planning consultants and local authorities

Management keeps up to date with planning legislation

Use of specialist professional advisors

Lack of demand for new property

The Group's strategy is to avoid doing speculative developments on its own balance sheet

Inability to find suitable contractors/JV partners

Well established network of contractors, joint venture partners and professional advisors

As Helical nears the construction of key projects this risk increases

Counterparty risk (contractors, joint venture partners, contract parties)

Management monitors counterparties to review their ability to meet their obligations and to monitor the likelihood that they will become insolvent

 


This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
 
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