Unite stuck in the red

3rd Mar 2010 08:20

Unite, the student accommodation developer and manager, met forecasts for rental growth in 2009, although writedowns on the value of development property kept the group firmly in the red.Like-for-like rental growth of 9.7% was in line with forecasts for 7-10%, while occupancy rates for the 2009/10 academic year were 96.5%. It expects annual rental growth of 3-5% in the 2010/11 academic year.But a £16.8m writedown on the value of development and investment properties contributed to an overall loss of £28.7m following last year's £44.8m shortfall.There was a profit at a net portfolio contribution level of £0.6m compared with a £5.4m loss the year before due to strong like-for-like rental growth and a reduction of operating costs. Adjusted fully diluted net asset value (NAV) per share dropped 13% to 265p from 306p at the end of December 2008, although it was broadly flat in the second half of 2009, save for the impact of two one-off items already flagged.At the end of February this year, there were reservations in place for the 2010/11 academic year across 59% of the firm's portfolio, compared to 63% at the same time in 2009."We aim to have 4,000 to 5,000 bed spaces of development secured by March 2011, of which the significant majority are expected to be in London," said Unite. " Development profits from this activity in 2010 are likely to be limited, taking into account the lead time required to secure planning consents. We would expect development profits to accrue from 2011 onwards."