May 12, 2022

12 May 2022 North East Property Alice Bird Listed property company Grainger has reported increases in adjusted earnings and rental income, with further growth expected as the UK rental market continues to have a "hugely attractive outlook". In its newly published results for the six months ended 31 March 2022, the Newcastle-headquartered company reported a 23 per cent increase in adjusted earnings to £46.3m. Net rental income also rose 23 per cent to £42.8m, with a 3.5 per cent uptick in like-for-like rental growth. At the end of March, the company had 98 per cent occupancy in its PRS portfolio, which is ahead of pre-pandemic levels. Residential sales profit was also up to £31.6m. During the period, Grainger made four acquisitions, in London, Exeter, Hampshire and Sheffield, adding about 1,131 homes to its build-to-rent, PRS pipeline and £14m of annual net rental income. Three of the four deals were land acquisitions, with the fourth being a forward funding project. Chief executive Helen Gordon said that the "particularly strong performance" was largely driven by its acceleration of growth in net rental income. She said: "This is a result of an exceptional lettings performance by the team, which also drove occupancy in our PRS portfolio to 98 per cent combined with like-for-like rental growth of 3.5 per cent and a record rate of lease up of our recent launches. The market has strengthened swiftly over the past six months and we have successfully capitalised on this opportunity. "We are delivering on our growth plans which will see us double in size in the coming years, providing exceptional earnings growth and attractive high single digit total returns to shareholders. "The UK rental market continues to have a hugely attractive outlook with significant demand, rental growth, yield compression, and structural drivers that favour the professional, large-scale landlord. At the same time, Grainger is in a strong position as market leader with a scalable national operating platform, fully-funded secured pipeline and fully integrated business model. "We are well prepared for the economic challenges facing the UK today of inflation and cost of living rises. With a resilient customer base, high quality energy efficient homes, fixed debt costs, fixed delivery costs across the majority of our secured pipeline and limited direct exposure to other inflationary pressures, we are confident in the outlook for our business." TAGS