DIVIDEND ANNOUNCEMENT AND FURTHER UPDATE
12 December 2022
Home REIT plc
("Home REIT" or the "Company")
DIVIDEND ANNOUNCEMENT AND FURTHER UPDATE
Further to the Company's announcement released on 30 November 2022, fully responding to the publishing of a short selling report (the "Report") and in view of the further allegations raised since that date, the Board reiterates that it believes that all allegations are without substance.
Dividend announcement
Following its internal investigations, the Board reaffirms that the Company's portfolio fulfils its sole focus of providing safe and secure accommodation to some of the most vulnerable in society, whilst generating shareholder value.
In view of the Company's robust rental income as disclosed in the announcement on 30 November 2022, as well as its strong balance sheet and conservative leverage position, the Board today declares an interim dividend of 1.38 pence per Ordinary Share in respect of the period from 1 June to 31 August 2022, as scheduled below:
Ex-Dividend Date 22 December 2022
Record Date 23 December 2022
Payment Date 20 January 2023
The dividend will be paid as a Property Income Distribution ("PID") in respect of the Company's tax-exempt property rental business.
The dividend is the fourth quarterly dividend declared in respect of the 12-months to 31 August 2022 and takes the total dividends paid and declared in respect of the financial year to 5.5 pence per Ordinary Share, and represents achievement of the Company's annual dividend target for the second year running.
Further update and accounts
Whilst the Company remains of the view that the allegations made in the Report and subsequent publications are without foundation and have caused unnecessary and significant disruption and losses to the Company and its shareholders, the Board has taken steps to maintain and enhance shareholder confidence.
In view of the Report, the Company's auditor is carrying out enhanced audit procedures, which include a detailed review of the material allegations made against the Company and its advisers. The Company continues to work constructively with its auditor to ensure that the full year results for the period to 31 August 2022 can be published as soon as practically possible and expects this to be no later than 31 January 2023.
The Company's portfolio continues to operate effectively, with rents flowing from tenants, and continues to fulfil its objective of providing high quality, safe and secure accommodation with genuine social impact.
The Board, alongside Alvarium Home REIT Advisors Limited (the "Investment Adviser"), have undertaken a series of investor engagement meetings and presentations following the allegations to canvas investor feedback. In light of the feedback and requests received, following the publication of the Report, the Company provides the following updates and commitments to its stakeholders:
Resourcing and governance
· The Investment Adviser has taken on board recent investor feedback and has committed to invest materially in further resourcing its dedicated in-house team, including hiring additional senior level investment professionals, to work alongside Charlotte Fletcher and Alex Baker, the Senior Fund Managers. Charlotte has also decided to reduce her maternity leave, returning to work in January 2023.
· The Company will also appoint, at the sole cost of the Investment Adviser, an experienced and specialist national Property Management firm, to carry out a full suite of property management services, including rent invoicing and collection and tenant liaison and monitoring.
· The Investment Adviser is aligned with shareholders in regards to seeking strong financial and operational performance by the Company and re-iterates its statements, from 30 November 2022, that it does not have any non-standard connections or conflicts with the developers from which the Company acquires assets. The Investment Adviser is also conscious that the additional measures required as a result of the Report represent significant additional costs for the Company and to clearly demonstrate its ongoing alignment, these costs will be reimbursed in full by the Investment Adviser and will therefore come at no cost to shareholders.
· Given the growth of the Company, the Board had already commenced a review of skills and capability at Board level. To that end, the Company has now employed an independent and external executive search agency in order to recruit an additional Non-Executive Director with a particular focus on direct experience in property and ESG matters. A further announcement on this is expected in January 2023.
Portfolio disclosure and due diligence
· The Investment Adviser and the Board are undergoing a thorough review of their diligence procedures. Whilst the procedures adopted to date represent normal market practice, the Investment Adviser expects to implement several enhancements to be enacted over the medium term, including:
o Working with tenants to improve their asset monitoring procedures so that rare and ad hoc contractual breaches, for example with residents sub-letting rooms, are identified, and addressed more efficiently.
o Enhancing tenant reporting requirements to the Company, if necessary, through additional landlord protection clauses in tenant leases.
o The Company will commission an independent valuation on all property acquisitions prior to purchase from a valuer other than its own external valuer to provide additional assurance in relation to both purchase price and subsequent valuations.
· The Company will also provide enhanced disclosures relating to its portfolio and, more specifically, around the underlying operational performance of its assets. This will include, inter alia, additional disclosure around geographic locations of the assets and a list of the Company's largest development partners, as well as providing stakeholders with further opportunities to meet the Company's tenants and visit properties where possible.
· The Company will continue to work with the Good Economy Partnership Limited, the impact advisory firm, to independently assess the Company's social impact on homeless people who are accommodated in the Company's properties, and publish a related report on an annual basis.
Financial Information
· The Board takes further comfort in its balance sheet which benefits from a low LTV ratio, 100% fixed all-in cost of debt of 2.3% per annum and no debt maturities until 2032. Likewise, the additional layer of review and independent analysis by the Company's lender, Scottish Widows, and its valuers, ensures further robustness.
· The Board notes the technical requirements of DTR 4.1.3 around publishing year end accounts within four months, in the case of the Company this date being 31 December 2022. If this deadline is not met, the FCA will temporarily suspend the Company's listing until the audited accounts are published.
· The Company expects to publish its audited accounts prior to 31 January 2023 and continues to work tirelessly alongside its auditors to reduce this timeline (which, as noted above, has been unusually protracted due to enhanced audit procedures resulting from the Report).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
|
FTI Consulting (Communications Adviser) Dido Laurimore Eve Kirmatzis Ellie Perham-Marchant Oliver Harrison |
HomeREIT@fticonsulting.com +44 (0)20 3727 1000 |
The Company's LEI is: 213800A53AOVH3FCGG44.
For more information, please visit the Company's website: www.homereituk.com
About Home REIT plc
The Company is now providing 11,861 beds, across 2,473 properties spread throughout 137 Local Authorities, to homeless people in the UK, where the demand for long-term high quality and affordable homeless accommodation continues to far outweigh the supply. With over 320,000 people sleeping rough, in homeless shelters or other temporary housing in Great Britain and in England a household became homeless every four minutes (only exacerbated by the cost of living crisis) this is a huge, growing problem in the UK, which Home REIT is proud to help alleviate. There is also a focus on training and rehabilitation at the properties by the Tenants to provide individuals with the skills and confidence to reintegrate back into society. With the obligation for Local Authorities to secure accommodation for homeless people from 2018 cross-party legislation, Home REIT's properties offer significant savings to local authorities of 65 per cent. via lower rents and better-quality accommodation versus expensive alternatives e.g. bed & breakfast.
Home REIT plc seeks to contribute to the alleviation of homelessness in the UK, whilst targeting inflation-protected income and capital returns, by funding the acquisition and creation of a diversified portfolio of high-quality accommodation assets across the UK which are dedicated to providing accommodation to homeless people. The accommodation assets are let or pre-let on very long (typically 20 to 30 years) leases, containing inflation-linked or fixed uplift rent review provisions, to registered charities, housing associations, community interest companies and other regulated organisations which have a proven operating track record in providing low-cost accommodation to homeless people and which receive exempt housing benefit or comparable support from local or central government to fund the provision of such accommodation to homeless people.
There is a critical need for further accommodation for homeless people in the UK, due to an increasing homeless population and a lack of available and affordable high-quality, fit-for-purpose stock to address the problem. Local housing authorities are under a statutory duty to secure accommodation for individuals who are unintentionally homeless and in priority need but current accommodation for homeless people is limited in quantum and often sub-standard and uneconomical.
The Company focuses on investing in and creating well-located properties that provide a sustainable level of rent for the Tenant. Within the homeless accommodation assets, there is a focus on care, support, training and rehabilitation to provide vulnerable homeless people with the skills and confidence to find long-term accommodation and enable them to reintegrate back into society. Savings are expected to be made to local authorities and other providers of accommodation to homeless people via lower rents versus more expensive alternative accommodation.
The Company is listed on the premium segment of the Official List of the UK Financial Conduct Authority and its Ordinary Shares were admitted to trading on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, premium segment, on 12 October 2020.
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