Every quarter we pause trading on our Resale Market for three working days, to allow for the orderly release of information that is price sensitive.
This quarter’s announcements relating to our properties are detailed below.
Today, the Resale Market closed at 11am and will re-open for trading at 11am Thursday 9 January.
The first 5-year anniversary ‘exit mechanic’ commenced in December 2019
Our first ever property, Fairholme Road, Croydon, had its 5th anniversary on 15 December 2019. Of the existing shareholders, 83% have held their shares and 17% have elected to tender them into a block sale. All clients now have the ability to acquire the shares offered in that block sale. Read more here.
Rob Weaver, our Chief Investment Officer, believes there are compelling reasons for existing shareholders to hold this property and other clients to invest in it. These reasons are detailed in the Investment Case.
This property’s 5th anniversary will be followed by more than 30 others through the course of 2020, with important consequences for the price at which these properties trade on the Resale Market.
The 5-year exit mechanic gives all shareholders the opportunity to exit at a fair market value. It relies on the direct engagement of investors in each property and the process is an important one for all investors to understand. Read more here.
Dividend reviews have resulted in adjustments for 19 properties
We constantly review the rental performance and financial position of all properties, and every quarter we adjust dividend payouts where necessary.
This quarter, we have increased dividend payouts for 6 properties and decreased payouts for 13 properties. These changes will take effect from 5 February 2020.
The impact of these changes is to reduce the average dividend yield (before the AUM fee) on all properties from 3.77% to 3.66%. Read more here.
Development loan investment surpasses £6.5m
We have continued to source carefully selected mezzanine debt opportunities in partnership with Proseed Capital. We completed 2 new loans since our last quarterly update with total lending now exceeding £6.5m.
Since offering the ability to invest through an Innovative Finance ISA, approximately 40% of clients’ investment in development loans has been through clients’ ISA accounts.
The portfolio of loans continues to mature and following the early repayment of our first loan in Q3, in December we saw the successful repayment of the Eastbourne loan, 9 months ahead of schedule. The investment was repaid after only 2.5 months, and because the loan had a minimum 6 month interest period, it delivered a 4.75% net total return, equivalent to an annualised return of 23%.
Each quarter, we provide updates on the progress of outstanding loans. These updates can be viewed on each loan’s investment case here.
Fire safety updates
Three of our properties, Premier House, Picture Works and Vista Tower, continue to work through fire safety issues relating to their cladding. Although these matters are relatively slow to resolve, good progress is being made by the various freeholders’ block managers. Read more here.
Sherbourne House, Cannon Street update
Work continues to progress in city office development scheme, Sherbourne House, Cannon Street. Investors can view the latest update via the investment page here.
As always, we welcome feedback from our clients and look forward to discussing these announcements with as many of you as possible.
Warren Bath
CEO