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Research: Real Estate
The valuation of Picton’s property portfolio showed a 2.1% like-for-like increase in the three months ending 31 December 2017 (Q318), primarily driven by asset management, continuing growth in expected rental values and yield compression on some assets. Including the dividend, NAV total return was 4.1%, with dividend cover increasing to 126%. The targeted DPS for the current year was increased by c 3% to an annualised 3.5p (a well covered 4.1% yield). Ongoing active asset management initiatives provide additional opportunities, with leasing progress continuing in Q4.
Picton Property Income |
Strong total returns continue |
Q3 NAV update |
Real estate |
26 January 2018 |
Share price performance
Business description
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Analysts
Picton Property Income is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited |
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The valuation of Picton’s property portfolio showed a 2.1% like-for-like increase in the three months ending 31 December 2017 (Q318), primarily driven by asset management, continuing growth in expected rental values and yield compression on some assets. Including the dividend, NAV total return was 4.1%, with dividend cover increasing to 126%. The targeted DPS for the current year was increased by c 3% to an annualised 3.5p (a well covered 4.1% yield). Ongoing active asset management initiatives provide additional opportunities, with leasing progress continuing in Q4.
Year end |
Revenue |
EPRA EPS* |
DPS |
EPRA NAV/ |
P/EPRA NAV |
Yield |
03/16 |
40.8 |
3.68 |
3.30 |
77.2 |
1.12 |
3.8 |
03/17 |
47.9 |
3.81 |
3.33 |
81.8 |
1.05 |
3.9 |
03/18e |
43.2 |
4.11 |
3.43 |
89.0 |
0.97 |
4.0 |
03/19e |
44.5 |
4.29 |
3.53 |
91.7 |
0.94 |
4.1 |
Note: *EPRA EPS excludes revaluation gains/losses and other exceptional items.
Income and capital gains in the quarter
The investment portfolio was valued at £665.3m at 31 December 2017, up from £652.1m in September (H118), including £13.6m in revaluation gains, £0.6m in disposal of non-core property, and capex. The valuation reflects a net initial yield of 5.7% and a reversionary yield of 6.7%. The average unexpired lease term was 5.2 years and occupancy was maintained at 95%. Lease events in the period added £0.26m to annualised contracted rent roll, 1.9% ahead of the H118 expected rental value (ERV). Lettings at the recently acquired Tower Wharf in Bristol have since added £0.54m to annualised rent roll, 4% ahead of ERV.
Positioned for further growth
Picton’s portfolio is overweight regional industrial and office property and significantly underweight retail and leisure (with no shopping centre exposure). Management expects a general supply and demand imbalance with limited development to drive further growth in regional office and industrial rents. The H118 ERV was £6m ahead of the contracted run rate, and much of this potential remains, representing significant opportunity to grow income from the existing assets through further void reduction, rent reviews and lease renewals.
Valuation: Well covered DPS supports total returns
While Picton has a strong income focus, it also chooses to reinvest into the portfolio in ways designed to support occupancy and income growth with the specific goal of enhancing total return. It provides an attractive dividend yield in excess of 4%, which we expect to be 1.2x covered by EPRA earnings, and with continuing opportunities to grow income from the current portfolio. Despite a strong historic record of relative outperformance, Picton trades at a P/NAV discount to peers.
Strong total returns continue through Q318
Picton’s unaudited net asset value increased to £477.4m at 31 December 2017 or by 2.7p (3.1%) to 88.6p. A summary of the movement is provided in Exhibit 1, with some rounding of the per share values. The 0.825p dividend paid in the quarter was 126% covered by net income, while a 2.1% like-for-like investment property valuation contributed £13.6m (c 2.5p per share), with capex and a small disposal taking the total movement in property values to £13.2m. The “other” NAV movement of c £0.8m includes the repurchase of 1,070,000 shares for the Employee Benefit Trust to satisfy future vesting awards made under the company’s long-term incentive plan and has no impact on the NAV per share movement in the period.
Exhibit 1: Summary of NAV movement in the quarter
£m |
Per share (p) |
Movement per share (p) |
|
NAV at 30 September 2017 |
463.8 |
85.9 |
|
Movement in property values |
13.2 |
2.5 |
2.4 |
Net income after tax for the period |
5.8 |
1.1 |
1.1 |
Dividends paid |
(4.6) |
(0.9) |
(0.9) |
Other |
(0.8) |
- |
- |
NAV at 31 December 2017 |
477.4 |
88.6 |
2.7 |
Source: Picton, Edison Investment Research
As previously indicated, the DPS declared in respect of Q318 has been increased by c 3% to 8.75p and will be paid on 28 February 2018. This represents an annualised DPS of 3.5p.
The company has made clear that it intends to bring forward proposals later in the year for conversion to UK REIT status and will at the same time seek to change its technical listing status to that of a commercial company. These changes are not expected to have any impact on Picton’s investment or portfolio strategy, and there no plans to change the quarterly reporting or dividend cycle. We note that prospective dividend cover under the current corporate structure is c 1.2x, which suggests to us that there may be scope for the payout to increase; for now, management is indicating that it will review dividend policy again if and when REIT conversion takes place.
Portfolio activity was light during the period, with one non-core property sold for £0.6m, in line with the September (H118) valuation, but 35% ahead of the March valuation. The period saw five lettings, seven rent reviews and five lease renewals completed, securing additional annualised rent income of £0.26m, on average 1.9% of the expected rental value (ERV). Occupancy across the portfolio was maintained at 95% during the period. In September, the full occupancy ERV was £47.6m compared with the annualised contracted rental value at the time of £41.6m. Although not updated at Q3, we believe that much of this income potential remains, after allowing for ERV growth and leasing activity in the quarter and since. Picton recently announced that in Q418 it has secured two new occupiers at Tower Wharf in Bristol, the Grade A office building that it acquired for £23.15m in August 2017. These take occupancy at Tower Wharf to more than 90% from 64% at the time of the acquisition, and represent a combined annual rent of £0.54m, equivalent to £28.50 per sqft and 4% ahead of the September ERV.
The 2.1% like-for-like valuation growth in Q318 was driven by the industrial (3.5%) and office (2.2%) assets, where Picton is over-weighted, representing more than three-quarters of the portfolio. The retail and leisure assets saw a negative 0.5% valuation movement. The leasing progress at Tower Wharf is a positive indicator for the year-end valuation.
Our forecasts already anticipate some leasing progress and for now we make no change to our expected income earnings. The £13.6m Q318 revaluation movement was well ahead of the £5.0m that we had allowed for in H218 as a whole. We have increased the H218 assumption to £15.0m, with a positive impact on EPRA NAV per share.
Exhibit 2: Forecast changes
Revenue (£m) |
Adj. EPRA EPS (p) |
EPRA NAV/share (p) |
DPS (p) |
|||||||||
Old |
New |
% change |
Old |
New |
% change |
Old |
New |
% change |
Old |
New |
% change |
|
FY18e |
43.2 |
43.2 |
0.0 |
4.11 |
4.11 |
0.0 |
87.2 |
89.0 |
2.1 |
3.43 |
3.43 |
0.0 |
FY19e |
44.5 |
44.5 |
0.0 |
4.29 |
4.29 |
0.0 |
89.9 |
91.7 |
2.1 |
3.53 |
3.53 |
0.0 |
Source: Edison Investment Research
The increase in the investment portfolio value in Q3 contributed towards a reduction in gearing in Q318, with the net LTV reducing to 27.4% from 28.2% in September. The company continues to look for investment opportunities and has £39m of borrowing headroom available from its revolving credit facilities.
While Picton has a strong income focus, it also chooses to reinvest into the portfolio in ways designed to support occupancy and income growth with the specific goal of enhancing total return. It has a built a strong and consistent record of property returns (income and capital) over a number of years and has outperformed its MSCI IPD Quarterly Benchmark over one, three, five and 10 years to September 2017 (a Q318 benchmark comparison is not yet available). In Exhibit 3 we show a summary valuation comparison of Picton and what we consider to be its closest peers.
Exhibit 3: Peer comparison
Price |
Market cap |
NAVPS* |
DPS** |
P/NAV |
Yield |
|
EPIC |
109.4 |
230 |
111.0 |
5.75 |
0.99 |
5.3 |
F&C Commercial Property |
141.4 |
1,130 |
140.0 |
6.00 |
1.01 |
4.2 |
F&C UK Real Estate Investments |
106.0 |
255 |
104.9 |
5.00 |
1.01 |
4.7 |
Custodian REIT |
115.6 |
437 |
104.9 |
6.45 |
1.10 |
5.6 |
Regional REIT |
101.6 |
379 |
104.4 |
7.85 |
0.97 |
7.7 |
Schroders REIT |
65.0 |
337 |
65.7 |
2.48 |
0.99 |
3.8 |
Standard Life Investment Property |
96.9 |
383 |
86.0 |
4.76 |
1.13 |
4.9 |
UK Commercial Property Trust |
90.0 |
1,169 |
90.4 |
3.68 |
1.00 |
4.1 |
Average |
100.9 |
1.02 |
5.0 |
|||
Picton Property Income |
86.0 |
464 |
88.6 |
3.50 |
0.97 |
4.1 |
Source: Edison Investment Research, Bloomberg. Note: *Last published NAV. **Prospective yield. Data as at 25 January 2018.
Picton’s 4.1% prospective yield compares with a c 5.0% simple average for the peer group, while its c 3% discount to last published NAV positions it at a discount. It would appear to us that Picton is being valued as if its immediate income distributions are structural (whereas they could be increased given the dividend cover), without giving obvious credit for the potential to further grow that income or to continue to enhance total returns through continued investment. The market does not appear to be anticipating a continuation of its historical relative property return outperformance and is certainly not pricing in achievement of management’s goal of being sustainably one of the best performing, diversified listed property companies on the main market.
Exhibit 4: Financial summary
Year end 31 March |
£'000s |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018e |
2019e |
|
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
|||
PROFIT & LOSS |
||||||||
Revenue |
|
|
31,967 |
35,151 |
40,770 |
47,911 |
43,217 |
44,515 |
Service charge income |
4,782 |
4,511 |
5,153 |
6,487 |
6,083 |
6,265 |
||
Total revenue |
|
|
36,749 |
39,662 |
45,923 |
54,398 |
49,300 |
50,781 |
Gross property expenses |
(8,992) |
(9,320) |
(10,001) |
(12,011) |
(11,422) |
(11,570) |
||
Net rental income |
|
|
27,757 |
30,342 |
35,922 |
42,387 |
37,878 |
39,211 |
Administrative expenses |
(1,139) |
(1,194) |
(1,510) |
(1,613) |
(1,982) |
(2,116) |
||
Operating Profit before revaluations |
|
|
26,618 |
29,148 |
34,412 |
40,774 |
35,896 |
37,095 |
Revaluation of investment properties |
18,422 |
53,163 |
44,171 |
15,087 |
32,362 |
10,000 |
||
Profit on disposals |
5,660 |
412 |
799 |
1,847 |
2,488 |
0 |
||
Management expenses |
(2,127) |
(2,591) |
(2,901) |
(3,636) |
(3,660) |
(3,752) |
||
Operating Profit |
48,573 |
80,132 |
76,481 |
54,072 |
67,086 |
43,343 |
||
Net Interest |
(10,868) |
(10,930) |
(11,417) |
(10,823) |
(9,753) |
(9,718) |
||
Profit Before Tax |
|
|
37,705 |
69,202 |
65,064 |
43,249 |
57,333 |
33,625 |
Taxation |
(357) |
(347) |
(216) |
(499) |
(614) |
(673) |
||
Profit After Tax |
37,348 |
68,855 |
64,848 |
42,750 |
56,719 |
32,953 |
||
Profit After Tax (EPRA) |
13,266 |
15,280 |
19,878 |
20,566 |
22,191 |
23,153 |
||
Average Number of Shares Outstanding (m) |
359.9 |
445.3 |
540.1 |
540.1 |
540.1 |
540.1 |
||
EPS (p) |
|
|
10.38 |
15.46 |
12.01 |
7.92 |
10.50 |
6.10 |
Adj EPRA EPS (p) |
|
|
3.69 |
3.43 |
3.68 |
3.81 |
4.11 |
4.29 |
Dividends paid per share (p) |
|
|
3.000 |
3.000 |
3.300 |
3.325 |
3.425 |
3.525 |
Dividend cover (x) |
1.23 |
1.14 |
1.12 |
1.15 |
1.20 |
1.22 |
||
BALANCE SHEET |
||||||||
Fixed Assets |
|
|
421,393 |
536,898 |
649,406 |
618,391 |
671,446 |
684,946 |
Investment properties |
417,207 |
532,926 |
646,018 |
615,170 |
668,279 |
681,779 |
||
Other non-current assets |
4,186 |
3,972 |
3,388 |
3,221 |
3,167 |
3,167 |
||
Current Assets |
|
|
42,879 |
84,111 |
37,408 |
49,960 |
47,764 |
49,516 |
Debtors |
10,527 |
14,019 |
14,649 |
16,077 |
16,771 |
17,391 |
||
Cash |
32,352 |
70,092 |
22,759 |
33,883 |
30,993 |
32,125 |
||
Current Liabilities |
|
|
(17,369) |
(17,480) |
(47,521) |
(21,171) |
(21,163) |
(21,783) |
Creditors/Deferred income |
(14,434) |
(16,468) |
(18,430) |
(20,067) |
(20,035) |
(20,655) |
||
Short term borrowings |
(2,935) |
(1,012) |
(29,091) |
(1,104) |
(1,128) |
(1,128) |
||
Long Term Liabilities |
|
|
(232,807) |
(233,559) |
(222,161) |
(205,255) |
(217,185) |
(217,185) |
Long term borrowings |
(231,081) |
(231,834) |
(220,444) |
(203,540) |
(215,470) |
(215,470) |
||
Other long term liabilities |
(1,726) |
(1,725) |
(1,717) |
(1,715) |
(1,715) |
(1,715) |
||
Net Assets |
|
|
214,096 |
369,970 |
417,132 |
441,925 |
480,862 |
495,494 |
Net Assets excluding goodwill and deferred tax |
|
|
214,096 |
369,970 |
417,132 |
441,925 |
480,862 |
495,494 |
NAV/share (p) |
56.4 |
68.5 |
77.2 |
81.8 |
89.0 |
91.7 |
||
EPRA NAV/share (p) |
56.4 |
68.5 |
77.2 |
81.8 |
89.0 |
91.7 |
||
CASH FLOW |
||||||||
Operating Cash Flow |
|
|
23,145 |
24,705 |
33,283 |
36,283 |
32,055 |
34,083 |
Net Interest |
(8,768) |
(8,695) |
(8,836) |
(9,211) |
(9,381) |
(9,718) |
||
Tax |
(394) |
(369) |
(426) |
(232) |
(530) |
(673) |
||
Net cash from investing activities |
(10,838) |
(61,729) |
(68,123) |
48,691 |
(18,278) |
(3,524) |
||
Ordinary dividends paid |
(10,711) |
(13,102) |
(17,822) |
(17,957) |
(18,497) |
(19,037) |
||
Debt drawn/(repaid) |
(1,031) |
(3,191) |
14,591 |
(46,450) |
11,741 |
0 |
||
Proceeds from shares issued |
18,043 |
100,121 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Other cash flow from financing activities |
||||||||
Net Cash Flow |
9,446 |
37,740 |
(47,333) |
11,124 |
(2,890) |
1,132 |
||
Opening cash |
|
|
22,906 |
32,352 |
70,092 |
22,759 |
33,883 |
30,993 |
Closing cash |
|
|
32,352 |
70,092 |
22,759 |
33,883 |
30,993 |
32,125 |
Closing debt |
(234,016) |
(232,846) |
(249,535) |
(204,644) |
(216,598) |
(216,598) |
||
Closing net (debt)/cash |
|
|
(201,664) |
(162,754) |
(226,776) |
(170,761) |
(185,605) |
(184,473) |
Net LTV |
34.6% |
27.3% |
27.4% |
26.7% |
Source: Company accounts, Edison Investment Research
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Orosur’s H118 results indicate San Gregorio (SG) continues to perform well, albeit with a small deferral of 2koz of gold production to narrow FY18 guidance from 30-34koz to c 30koz. Orosur’s focus remains on the most profitable mining possible rather than extracting its reserves ad hoc. SG’s geological data are being thoroughly examined such that additional production opportunities are identified. The process has already yielded SG UG West (a current mainstay of production), with SG Central located adjacent and being developed to provide production during H218. Veta A is another old pit reopening as an underground mine project. We consider that Orosur should be able to return to profitability by end FY18, with upside clearly linked to the very positive initial drill results coming from its increasingly important Colombian asset base.