Completes £26.4m sale of Wardpark, Cumbernauld

RNS Number : 5355X

Regional REIT Limited

13 August 2018

 

REGIONAL REIT Limited

("Regional REIT", "the Group" or "the Company")

13 August 2018

COMPLETES £26.4M SALE OF WARDPARK, CUMBERNAULD

Regional REIT, the UK regional office and industrial property focused real estate investment trust, today announces that it has exchanged and completed the sale of multi-let industrial estate Wardpark, Cumbernauld. The estate, acquired in 2013, covers a total of 829,851 sq ft and is located approximately 13 miles north east of Glasgow.

The sale price of £26.4m was 21.1% above the December 2017 year end valuation.

Wardpark has benefitted from a proactive asset management strategy, which has resulted in improved occupancy and high retention rates among tenants, approximately 30% of which have had a presence on the estate for over 15 years. Initiatives undertaken include the rolling refurbishment of vacant units, the creation of a trade counter area on the estate and the re-gearing of core holding leases. Tenants include Virgin Media Wholesale, Screwfix and Balfour Beatty.

Stephen Inglis, Chief Executive Officer of London & Scottish Investments Limited, the Asset Manager to Regional REIT, commented:

"We are pleased to conclude the sale of Wardpark, which reflects our opportunistic approach to recycling capital and supports our strategy of downselling assets in Scotland to allow the REIT to target acquisitions in England. It's another example of our track record of increasing asset value through active asset-management.

"The market continues to demonstrate robust investor demand for multi-let industrial assets and the sector's ability to deliver increasingly attractive returns. The sale of Cumbernauld at £4.6m above its last valuation price shows again the significant differential between valuation and the price the market is willing to pay. We are delighted with the performance of the asset under our ownership and look forward to recycling the capital in new assets where we can apply our active asset management strategies."

-Ends-

Notes to Editors

About Regional REIT

Regional REIT Limited (LSE: RGL) is a London Stock Exchange Main Market traded specialist real estate investment trust focused on office and industrial property interests in the principal regional locations of the United Kingdom outside of the M25 motorway.

Regional REIT is managed by London & Scottish Investments, the Asset Manager, and Toscafund Asset Management, the Investment Manager, and was formed by the combination of two existing funds previously created by the Managers as a differentiated play on the expected recovery in UK regional property, to deliver an attractive total return to Shareholders and with a strong focus on income.

As at 31 December 2017, Regional REIT's investment portfolio, was spread across 164 regional properties, 1,368 units and 1,026 tenants. As at 31 December 2017, the investment portfolio had a value of £737.3m, with a combined contracted rent roll of £61.9 million per annum reflecting a net initial yield of 6.5% on a weighted average unexpired lease term of around five years.

Regional REIT's investment objective is to deliver an attractive total return to its shareholders, with a strong focus on income. It pursues this investment objective by following an investment strategy involving active property management and prudent use of debt finance.

For further information, please contact:

Enquiries:

Regional REIT Limited			Regional REIT Limited
Press enquiries through Headland			www.regionalreit.com
				Press enquiries through Headland
Toscafund Asset Management	Tel: [phone]
Investment Manager to the Group			Peel Hunt
Adam Dickinson, Investor Relations, Regional REIT Limited			Henrietta Podd		[phone]
			Sanjeeb Seal		[phone]
London & Scottish Investments	Tel: [phone]
Asset Manager to the Group			Headland		[phone]
Stephen Inglis			Bryony Sym / Jack Gault
Headland	Tel: [phone]
Financial PR
Francesca Tuckett/ Bryony Sym / Jack Gault

About Regional REIT

About Regional REIT Regional REIT Limited (LSE: RGL) is a London Stock Exchange Main Market traded specialist real estate investment trust focused on office and industrial property interests in the principal regional locations of the United Kingdom outside of the M25 motorway.

Regional REIT is managed by London & Scottish Investments, the Asset Manager, and Toscafund Asset Management, the Investment Manager, and was formed by the combination of two existing funds previously created by the Managers as a differentiated play on the expected recovery in UK regional property, to deliver an attractive total return to Shareholders and with a strong focus on income.

 The Group's investment portfolio, as at 31 December 2017, was spread across 164 regional properties, 1,368 units and 1,026 tenants. As at 31 December 2017, the investment portfolio had a value of £737.3m and a net initial yield of 6.5%. The weighted average unexpired lease term to first break was 3.5 years.

The Company's shares were admitted to the Official List of the UK's Financial Conduct Authority and to trading on the London Stock Exchange on 6 November 2015. For more information, please visit the Group's website at www.regionalreit.com

Cautionary Statement

This document has been prepared solely to provide additional information to Shareholders to assess the Group's performance in relation to its operations and growth potential. The document should not be relied upon by any other party or for any other reason. Any forward looking statements made in this document are done so by the Directors in good faith based on the information available to them up to the time of their approval of this document. However, such statements should be treated with caution due to the inherent uncertainties, including both economic and business risk factors, underlying any such forward-looking information.

This announcement contains inside information which is disclosed in accordance with the Market Abuse Regulation that came into effect on 3 July 2016.

ESMA Legal Entity Identifier ("LEI"): (549300D8G4NKLRIKBX73)

www.regionalreit.com

 

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