London-listed Primary Health Properties said in a statement it believed the admission to trading on the JSE would be beneficial to the company and its stakeholders.
London-listed Primary Health Properties (PHP), an investor in primary health-care facilities in the UK, was also listed on the Main board of the JSE yesterday.
No new shares were issued with the secondary listing on the JSE, and the company also remains listed on the premium segment of the London Stock Exchange.
PHP said in a statement it believed the admission to trading on the JSE would be beneficial to the company and its stakeholders, and would contribute to the liquidity in its shares through its increased profile in the South African market.
A number of investors in the South African market had already shown strong interest in the company’s unique health-care opportunity, a statement said.
During the company’s third quarter to September 30, PHP was the winner of MSCI's Highest 10-Year Risk Adjusted Total Return Award for the UK in 2022, for the second year in succession.
PHP said the award reflected operational resilience and predictable income streams that underpinned its progressive dividend policy as PHP completed its 27th year of continued dividend growth.
CEO Harry Hyman and chief financial officer Richard Howell said in a trading update for the quarter that the rental growth outlook continued to improve, in particular from rent reviews.
An extra £3.1 million (R72m) compared with £2.3m in the third quarter of the 2022 financial year, of income was generated in the nine months from 243 reviews that had been settled, representing a 9.6% increase over the previous passing rent, equivalent to 4.4% (3.4%) on an annualised basis.
In the nine months to September 30, PHP generated an additional £3.3m (£2.4m) of extra rental income from its rent review and asset management activities, both in the UK and in Ireland.
A further £0.2m (£0.1m) was generated from asset management activities where the company had exchanged on five new projects, completed six lease re-gears and three new lettings.
“There is a strong pipeline of 26 asset management projects which, in addition to extending lease lengths and increasing rents, will improve the environmental performance of the buildings,” CEO Harry Hyman said in the trading statement.
The company had agreed to acquire one of Ireland's first Enhanced Community Care (ECC) facilities at Ballincollig, near Cork, Ireland, for €29.6m. The property was fully let to the Health Service Executive on a 25-year lease and benefits from five yearly, compounded annually, Irish CPI indexed rent reviews.
“The group continues to adopt a very disciplined approach to further investment and development activity, which will only take place if accretive to earnings. The future pipeline of opportunities continues to be focused predominantly in Ireland and PHP's existing portfolio through asset management projects.”
Rental values with several Integrated Care Boards across the UK were being renegotiated to maximise the financial viability of schemes in the pipeline, given the current economic and interest rate environment.
As at September 30, the loan to value ratio was 45.8% (June 30, 2023: 45.6%). There was £282m (£314m) of undrawn loan facilities available, net of capital commitments. A fourth quarterly interim dividend of 1.675p per share was declared.
"The increasingly firmer tone of rental growth is positive and we believe in the medium term that PHP will be a beneficiary of the current inflationary environment both through open market and index-linked reviews,“ Hyman said in a statement,
Thee dividend was equivalent to 6.7p on an annualised basis and represented a 3.1% increase over the 6.5p paid in 2022, the company said.
The share price increased 2.5% to 87.65 pence on the London Stock Exchange yesterday afternoon.
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