BUSINESS AND TRADING UPDATE
Empiric Student Property plc
("Empiric" or the "Company" or, together with its subsidiaries, the "Group")
BUSINESS AND TRADING UPDATE
Confidence in outlook for the year, with business poised for growth
Empiric Student Property plc (ticker: ESP), the owner and operator of premium, studio-led student accommodation aligned to top-tier universities, is pleased to provide a business and trading update as at 22 May 2024.
Highlights
· Revenue occupancy for academic year 2024/25 underpins confidence that our portfolio will again be effectively full for a third consecutive year
· Like for like growth in average weekly rents to exceed 6% for academic year 2024/25
· Potential JV discussions continue to progress positively
· Second tranche of refinancing concluded, removing refinancing risk until 2028
Duncan Garrood, Chief Executive Officer of Empiric Student Property plc, said:
"The booking cycle for the new 2024/25 academic year continues to demonstrate the resilience of demand for our high quality PBSA offer, providing confidence in the continued delivery of strong occupancy and rental growth into 2025 and beyond.
"The business is poised for growth. We're progressing schemes through the planning process and continue to make good progress with potential JV discussions."
Academic year 2024/25
We are encouraged by another strong sales performance for the forthcoming 2024/25 academic year, with 80 per cent of our income now contractually secured. We continue to expect to deliver another year of strong rental growth, with like for like rent anticipated to grow by at least six per cent. We remain confident that the portfolio will be effectively full for the third consecutive year in a row.
To date, the year has seen another very strong rebooker performance, exceeding expectations and reflecting continued demand for our premium accommodation and service proposition. This has also contributed to improving customer satisfaction scores for our Hello Student operating brand.
Portfolio management
A planning application has recently been submitted to facilitate an extension and full refurbishment of our existing operational site at Victoria Point, Manchester. If successful, the redeveloped scheme would deliver over 200 new PBSA beds into this acutely undersupplied city.
Following the acquisition of College House, Bristol, in February 2024, a planning application has been submitted to facilitate change of use and the delivery of over 50 new PBSA beds into this strong operational cluster by academic year 2025/26. We have also successfully let the property's vacant retail unit to a local bakery.
Discussions in respect of a proposed joint venture focussed on the roll out of our exclusive Post Graduate product, continue to progress well.
We continue to actively consider high-quality, well located investment opportunities complementary to our core strategy with over £30.0m of assets remaining under offer.
Debt & liquidity
As at 31 March 2024, pro forma EPRA LTV was 32.5 per cent (based on 31 December 2023 valuations), with cash and available facilities of £49.3 million.
Following completion of the second tranche of refinancing, in line with guidance provided, the weighted average cost of debt now stands at 4.6 per cent. The weighted average term to maturity is 5.3 years, with the next material refinancing not now due until 2028.
Dividends
Alongside our full year results in March 2024, we set out our expectation of meeting a minimum full year dividend of 3.5 pence per share for 2024. Today we have declared our first quarter dividend of 0.875 pence per share, in line with this target.
ENDS
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY, PLEASE CONTACT:
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The Company's LEI is 213800FPF38IBPRFPU87.
Further information on Empiric can be found on the Company's website at www.empiric.co.uk.
Notes:
Empiric Student Property plc is a leading provider and operator of modern, predominantly direct-let, premium student accommodation serving key UK universities. Investing in both operating and development assets, Empiric is a fully integrated operational student property business focused on premium studio-led accommodation managed through its Hello Student operating platform, that is attractive to affluent growing student segments.
The Company, an internally managed real estate investment trust ("REIT") incorporated in England and Wales, listed on the premium listing segment of the Official List of the Financial Conduct Authority and was admitted to trading on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange in June 2014. The Company is classified as a commercial company listed under chapter 6 of the UK Listing rules and as such is not an alternative investment fund ("AIF") for the purposes of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive ("AIFMD") and is not required to provide investors with a Key information Document ("KID") in accordance with the Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products ("PRIIPs") regulations.
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