The value of Intu’s property portfolio slipped 3% – or £298m – in the past 16 weeks, according to a trading update released by the shopping mall specialist today.
The decline reflected “current negative sentiment towards UK retail property” and resulted in 12p being shaved of its net asset value, which came in at 297p a share at 30 September, when its portfolio was valued at just under £9.6bn.
The retail REIT is currently the subject of a takeover bid; a consortium comprising Brookfield, Peel Group and Olayan Group confirmed last week that they have made an indicative offer for intu at 210.4p per share.
The value of Intu’s property portfolio slipped 3% – or £298m – in the past 16 weeks, according to a trading update released by the shopping mall specialist today.
The decline reflected “current negative sentiment towards UK retail property” and resulted in 12p being shaved of its net asset value, which came in at 297p a share at 30 September, when its portfolio was valued at just under £9.6bn.
The retail REIT is currently the subject of a takeover bid; a consortium comprising Brookfield, Peel Group and Olayan Group confirmed last week that they have made an indicative offer for intu at 210.4p per share.
In the trading update for the three-month period since 30 June, Intu added that the fall in the value of its portfolio had also caused its LTV to increase from 48.7% to 50.6%, while NAVPS decreased by nearly 5% to 344p.
However, David Fischel, chief executive of intu, said the board was “confident our business and assets are resilient and can weather the challenges we are currently seeing”.
In the period intu settled rent reviews on average 5% above previous passing rent and reported that in the year to date it had settled 102 rent reviews for new rent totalling £30m, 8% above previous passing rents.
Intu’s net external borrowings increased to just under £4.9bn over the period.
A scheduled repayment of a £160m bond this month reduced the business’s total cash and available facilities of £665m.
Despite the headwinds affecting intu and the retail sector, the REIT also reported that it had signed 84 long-term leases with tenants, delivering a yearly rent of £15m and still expected a further year of like-for-like net rental income growth for 2018 of between 0-1%, albeit affected by some 1.5% from tenant failures this year.
Intu also reported that it had identified mixed-use opportunities including the potential for 5,000 PSR residential units and around 600 hotel rooms.
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