TIDMBRU2
RNS Number : 1981A
Bruntwood Bond 2 PLC
01 February 2022
1st February 2022
BRUNTWOOD GROUP LIMITED
BRUNTWOOD INVESTMENTS PLC
BRUNTWOOD BOND 2 PLC
UPDATE STATEMENT ON 2021 ANNUAL RESULTS
Bruntwood Group Limited ("Bruntwood") today updates the market
on the recent publication of the 2021 financial statements and a
summary of the latest rent collection position.
The value of Bruntwood's 100% owned Bruntwood Works portfolio
surpassed GBP1bn for the first time after reaching GBP1.03bn (2020:
GBP973.1m). This followed new investment and strategic acquisitions
in key cities.
Bruntwood SciTech's portfolio also grew, reaching GBP669.5m
(2020: GBP545.7m) taking the total value of Bruntwood's assets to
more than GBP1.7bn.
Chris Oglesby, CEO of Bruntwood, said
"Our ability to attract, retain and grow with our customers owes
a huge amount to our unwavering commitment to invest in our
offering, even when operating within the challenging economic
environment of the past two years. The impact of this approach is
clear to see in our strong financial performance last year.
In the early days of the pandemic, there was a lot of ill
considered commentary about the decline of our city centres and
their workplaces. But in fact, what happened was that businesses
and people felt the impact their absence had on the innovation,
collaboration and interactions that make our economies successful
and our lives richer."
The first quarter of the current financial year began with
further significant investments and leasing growth across the
Bruntwood Group.
This included the acquisition by Bruntwood Works of the 84,000
sq ft, Grade II listed Pall Mall Court building in Manchester.
Greater Manchester's tech success story, Autocab, recently
announced its relocation to No.2 Circle Square and with it the aim
to create 200 new jobs.
Financial Position
The Group filed its annual accounts for the year ending
September 30th 2021. Despite the challenges presented by the
pandemic, underlying performance was extremely encouraging. Key
highlights include:
After suffering an GBP18.9m pandemic-induced loss in 2020,
pre-tax profits returned this year (GBP44.9m) as core rental income
and property valuations increased.
The result was even more noteworthy as pre-tax profits were
stated after taking into account exceptional refinancing costs of
GBP7.4m and the effect of deferred tax rate changes on our JV's
(GBP4m), resulting in a like for like swing in profit of
GBP75.2m.
Net asset value increased to GBP606.5m (2020: GBP588.6m) despite
the on-going impact of the pandemic and social distancing
restrictions since October 2020. Without a change in deferred tax
rates, the like for like number would be GBP627m.
The Group's financial position continued to strengthen after the
completion of two major funding deals including a new GBP276m,
15-year sustainability-linked facility with Aviva Investors and the
extension of a GBP240m club loan with
NatWest/HSBC/Barclays/Santander to March 2023.
The Group invested GBP18.6m into refurbishment and capital
improvement projects across its portfolio last year, along with an
additional GBP27.8m of equity injected into Bruntwood SciTech that
was matched by Legal & General. SciTech committed GBP80.8m to
new development schemes.
Operating Highlights
Bruntwood Works completed a transformative refurbishment at Bloc
- which is now at 92% leased and 97% serviced occupancy - and 111
Piccadilly in Manchester, both of which were delivered under the
Pioneer investment programme.
Bruntwood completed more than 745,000 sq ft of leasing
transactions across its portfolio lettings during the period, with
73% of customers retained at lease break or expiry, a 53%
improvement on 2020 levels. Vacancy levels were maintained at under
10%.
2022 has also started strongly with 578,000 square feet of new
lettings instructed or exchanged.
The full financial statements can be found at:
https://bruntwood.co.uk/our-performance/disclaimer/retail-bond-2025/
As of 26th January, the Group has GBP9.2m of cash reserves,
GBP28m of undrawn committed available facilities and GBP71m of
unencumbered assets upon which further finance could be
secured.
The Board has modelled various scenarios including reviewing
estimated customer default rates, lower retention rates, higher
concessions and valuation yield movement. Based on the output of
these models, The Board considers there to be sufficient income and
valuation headroom across Bruntwood's debt facilities and does not
expect Bruntwood to breach any terms relating to them. We have
modelled the forecast covenant performance on each loan facility.
Valuation covenant headroom is in excess of 20% on all of our
facilities. Income would have to fall by over 35% on all of our
facilities before any interest cover covenants are breached. In
addition, we would expect that the existence of GBP71m of
unencumbered assets would provide the resources to remedy any
breaches in such circumstances. The earliest major bank facility
maturity is not until March 2023.
The 2025 bond covenants have been tested as at September 2021
and are met with significant headroom. The covenant testing and
certificate are reported on the Bruntwood website (link as
above).
Impact on Operations
As of 20th January 2022, 98% of June quarter rents and 97% of
September rents were collected with the balance being on payment
plans or being actively pursued at the date of this announcement.
If we exclude retail customers, the relevant metrics increase to
98% of June rent and 98% of September.
As at 24th January 2022, 89% of December quarter rents had been
collected. This is comparable to the September / June quarters at
the same point. We continue to speak with all our customers on a
regular basis and work with every customer to support them as far
as possible through what remain challenging times.
ENDS
For further information, please see Bruntwood's website at
https://bruntwood.co.uk/ or contact:
Kevin Crotty (Chief Financial Officer) +44 (0) 161 212 2222
Sean Davies (Director of Financing
& Investment) +44 (0) 161 212 2222
Patrick King (Peel Hunt) +44 (0) 203 597 8622
Mark Glowery (Allia C&C) +44 (0) 203 039 3465
Forward-Looking Statements: This announcement contains certain
forward-looking statements with respect to Bruntwood's expectations
and plans, strategy, management objectives, future developments and
performances, costs, revenues and other trend information. These
statements are subject to assumptions, risk and uncertainty. Many
of these assumptions, risks and uncertainties relate to factors
that are beyond Bruntwood's ability to control or estimate
precisely and which could cause actual results or developments to
differ materially from those expressed or implied by these
forward-looking statements. Certain statements have been made with
reference to forecast process changes, economic conditions and the
current regulatory environment. Any forward-looking statements made
by or on behalf of Bruntwood are based upon the knowledge and
information available to Directors on the date of this
announcement. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that any
particular expectation will be met and Bruntwood's bondholders are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking
statements. Additionally, forward-looking statements regarding past
trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that
such trends or activities will continue in the future. Other than
in accordance with its legal or regulatory obligations (including
under the UK Listing Rules and the Disclosure Guidance and
Transparency Rules of the Financial Conduct Authority), Bruntwood
does not undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect
any changes in events, conditions or circumstances on which any
such statement is based. Past bond performance cannot be relied on
as a guide to future performance. Nothing in this announcement
should be construed as a profit forecast. The information in this
announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or an invitation
to buy securities in Bruntwood or an invitation or inducement to
engage in any other investment activities.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms
and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information
contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an
anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services.
For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange
use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy
Policy.
END
ACSEASFFDDEAEFA
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 01, 2022 02:59 ET (07:59 GMT)
Bruntwood Bd 6% (LSE:BRU2)
Historical Stock Chart
From Nov 2024 to Dec 2024
Bruntwood Bd 6% (LSE:BRU2)
Historical Stock Chart
From Dec 2023 to Dec 2024
