Investment trust Assura reports £119.2m annual loss
Falling values have pushed FTSE 250-listed Assura to a loss in its most recent annual results, but “at the more modest end than everybody else”, according to its chief executive.
The healthcare property investment trust swung to a pretax loss of £119.2m for the 12 months to March 31, 2023, from the £155.8m profit it generated a year earlier. The move reflects valuation decline driven by outward yield shift.
Assura chief executive Jonathan Murphy (pictured) told EG that healthcare is still “a real safe haven” and the business “just got marked down” by macro factors, including interest rates and inflation outlook.
Falling values have pushed FTSE 250-listed Assura to a loss in its most recent annual results, but “at the more modest end than everybody else”, according to its chief executive.
The healthcare property investment trust swung to a pretax loss of £119.2m for the 12 months to March 31, 2023, from the £155.8m profit it generated a year earlier. The move reflects valuation decline driven by outward yield shift.
Assura chief executive Jonathan Murphy (pictured) told EG that healthcare is still “a real safe haven” and the business “just got marked down” by macro factors, including interest rates and inflation outlook.
He said: “We move in line with the wider property market, and we are not really getting the credit that we should do for the strength of our underlying business, the solidity of earnings and the dividend growth.”
The company, which builds, invests in and manages GP surgery, primary care and community healthcare buildings, posted 12% earnings growth to £96.8m in its most recent financial year.
Net rental income grew by 9% to £138m which translated into 6% increase in passing rent roll of £143.4m.
Murphy said: “A lot of that came from our indexed leases, which is 20% of the overall portfolio.
“We’ve got a lot of uncapped leases and clearly they performed extremely well in the last 12 months and will continue to do so in the next 12 months.”
The value of Assura’s portfolio, which spans across 608 primary care properties, remained broadly in line with last year at £2.7bn.
Over the year, Assura has disposed of 65 properties for £78m at a premium to-book value that is now in its cash balance and ready to be redeployed into the pipeline.
Murphy said: “As we look forward, we’re in a very fortunate position.
“We’ve got cash in the bank and we’ve got no debt that’s due for renegotiation in the next three years.
“So, there’s no short-term downward pressure and we’re still seeing good opportunities.”
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Photo © Assura
