Londonmetric announces special dividend, acquisition of five M&S Simply Food stores

2nd Jun 2015 08:30

Londonmetric Property unveiled a special dividend in its final results on the same day it announced the £26m acquisition of five M&S Simply Food stores.Thanks to the exceptional gains secured from the £138.8m sale of Carter Lane, the group was able to announce a special dividend of 2p per share.The group reported a 26.5% increase in full-year profit before tax to £160.3m from £126.7m driven by strong retail income, while earnings per share rose to 25.5p from 20p the year before.Gross rental income increased 19.5% to £74m and contracted rental income rose 10% to £85.6m, which the company said underpins prospects for progressive dividends.The company's EPRA earnings jumped 55% to £40.9m from £26.4m and its portfolio value increased 14.8% to £1.4bn.Chairman Patrick Vaughan said distribution is now their largest sector and expects this to increase as existing and pipeline developments progress.He said: "Our portfolio continues to grow and we have taken advantage of a strong property market to sell some institutional assets recently at very attractive prices which, whilst delivering strong total returns, has tempered our earnings growth in the short term."On the back of changes in the occupier landscape, the group said it will cotnue to align its assets closely to the needs of retailers, and remain rational and disciplined in its stock selection and capital allocation.Acquisition of M&S portfolioThe acquisition of the five M&S Simply Food stores to its convenience retail portfolio has an overall rental income of £1.5m, subject to contractual uplifts.Panmure Gordon analysts said: "Convenience stores fit well within the omni channel theme and provide another source of long and strong income for the group."Following the acquisition, Londonmetric's convenience retail portfolio will increase to £49.7m.Chief executive Andrew Jones said the convenience food sector growing at the expense of the traditional larger food stores, leading the business to increase its exposure to the sub-sector in expectation of sustainable rental growth and further yield compression.Shares were down 0.18% to 169.7p on Tuesday at 09:00.