McCullagh to hand UKCM chair to Pereira Gray
Ken McCullagh has said he will retire as chair of UK Commercial Property REIT.
Peter Pereira Gray will take over as chair later this year, after being appointed to the board as a non-executive director today.
The REIT reported that its net asset value had fallen by nearly 22% to just over £1bn.
Ken McCullagh has said he will retire as chair of UK Commercial Property REIT.
Peter Pereira Gray will take over as chair later this year, after being appointed to the board as a non-executive director today.
The REIT reported that its net asset value had fallen by nearly 22% to just over £1bn.
The near £300m decline for the abrdn-advised and managed REIT reflected a NAV total return decline of 18.1%, down from 2021’s rise of 21.5%.
The REIT said this was due to market yield expansion following increased bank interest rates, as well as the cost of debt and the macro-economic position.
However, it added that over the longer term the REIT continued to perform well, with a NAV total return of 77.9% compared to the Association of Investment Companies peer group of 52.6%. But while the AIC fell from 54.6% in 2021, the REIT had fallen from 114.9%.
The REIT made a loss of £222m, against last year’s profit of £236m.
McCullagh said: Having served on the board for just over ten years, and as chair for three years, I intend to retire as a director later this year. It has been a pleasure to lead the company through these interesting, and often very challenging times.”
Peter Pereira Gray will be put forward for election to the board at the company’s AGM on 21 June 2023 and will take over as chair later this year.
Pereira Gray was the independent lead for the RICS Review of Investment Property Valuations published in January 2022.
Before he retired from Wellcome Trust’s investments team last September, he had been with the business since 2001, initially as head of property investment before becoming co-lead of the investment division in the role of managing partner and CEO from September 2017.
Before that he was a director of property fund management with Prudential Portfolio Managers, and before that, an adviser to Drivers Jonas.
He is also the chair of Urban&Civic, the master-planner and strategic land development company, and chair of the South Coast boatyard business Premier Marinas Holdings.
He currently holds 100,000 shares in UKCM.
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