Strong customer service boosts half-year numbers at Unite Group

29th Aug 2013 09:24

Student accomodation manager UNITE Group on Thursday pleased investors with a 0.3p increase in first half adjusted earnings per share (EPS), which the company attributed to high levels of customer service. Customer satisfaction was at its highest ever level and saw a stabilisation of student numbers after disruption in the 2012/13 university year, which resulted from a change in government policy. The group saw like-for-like rental growth of 1.2%, and recurring profit from operations grew 12.5% to £16.2m from £14.4m. The adjusted net asset value (NAV) per share climbed 3.1% to 361p from 350p six months earlier, equating to a total return on opening NAV of 4.0% for the six months (accounting for June share placing). Mark Allan, Chief Executive said: "The business has continued to perform strongly in 2013 with solid growth in earnings and NAV and healthy demand for accommodation for the 2013/14 University year. We expect this positive performance to be sustained for the full year and the rental growth outlook for the remainder of 2013 and into 2014 is encouraging."Longer term, the business is well positioned for continued growth in earnings and NAV. The demand/supply dynamics of our sector remain supportive, our competitive position and brand are strong and we have capital available to invest selectively in attractive opportunities."The group added this it continued to target average annual low double digit total returns on equity with a particular focus on growing recurring earnings, saying it was aiming for a 4.5% EPS yield on opening NAV by 2015, implying growth in earnings of approximately 75% over 2012 performance."We expect the 2013/14 student intake to be at least 30,000 higher than 2012/13, an increase of 6%, and with limited new supply of accommodation in most areas of the UK this should translate into high occupancy and robust rental growth." NR