Sirius Real Estate, the JSE-listed owner of business and industrial parks in Germany and the UK, reported its 10th year of higher dividends yesterday with a 6.5% uplift in the annual payout for the year to March, to 6.05 euro cents per share.
The owner and operator of the parks that provide conventional space and flexible workspace in Germany and the UK, said yesterday its operating platform continues to drive rental and funds from operations (FFO) growth.
FFO increased 7.9% to €110.2m and adjusted pre-tax profit increased 14.6% to €110m. There was 7.2% like-for-like rent roll growth to €188.7m driven by strong organic growth and occupier demand in Germany and the UK.
“Sirius has delivered another strong operational performance driving FFO, valuation and dividend growth in what represents our 10th year of annualised rental growth above 5%, and dividend increases. This is testament to our platform’s ability to drive substantial organic growth underpinned by continued occupier demand despite macro headwinds,” CEO Andrew Coombs said in a statement.
The FFO growth supported the 20th progressive dividend payout. The second-half dividend was 3.05 euro cents per share versus 2.98 euro cents per share in 2023.
Investment properties were valued at €2.21 billion from €2.12bn in 2023. Adjusted net asset value per share increased by 1.8% to 111.12 euro cents.
There were €157.8m of acquisitions and €59.7m of disposals at a premium to book value, supported by a €165.3m equity raise during the year. The company notarised or completed six UK acquisitions amounting to £90.0m with 81.1% occupancy.
In Germany, €53.6m of acquisitions were completed or notarised across three transactions with 91% occupancy. There were also €56.2m of disposals in Germany and one £3.m disposal in the UK, all at premium to book value.
The balance sheet was strong, with 2.9% of debt expiring within next two years, and cash of €214.5m, up from €99.2m at the previous year-end. Loan-to-value ended lower at 33.9% versus 41.6% at the same time last year.
“Our outlook remains positive: our active asset-recycling programme, strong cash position and post-balance sheet issuance of €59.9m of debt means our balance sheet is in rude health,” Coombs said.
“There remain many levers we can pull to unlock value and grow occupancy and rental income within our current portfolio through our successful asset-management programme, and we remain well-positioned to fuel our accretive pipeline, supporting our next phase of growth and deliver attractive returns for shareholders,” he added.
Further growth opportunities in Germany and the UK would be assessed on an opportunistic basis, including recycling of mature assets and reinvesting in value-add opportunities. Organic growth opportunities also remained strong in both markets, Coombs said.
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