January 27, 2017
The UK real estate market may be facing a period of uncertainty as the leaving process for the UK from the EU starts to unfold. However, LondonMetric Property has been focusing more on distribution warehouses, to take advantage of the change in consumer spending habits towards online shopping and away from the high street, so that nearly 60 per cent of the portfolio is now in distribution assets. Exposure to the fragile retail park sector has slowly been reduced and stands at just 17 per cent of the portfolio.
Rental income has been rising steadily, with more than half index-linked or on a fixed uplift, and will receive an additional boost as the development arm matures and starts to bring in further revenue. Occupancy levels remain high at 98.5 per cent, and the weighted average unexpired lease term to the first break is a healthy 12 years. So shareholders should not be concerned by the news that 69-year-old non-executive chairman Patrick Vaughan sold 500,000 shares in the company in January. This still leaves him with a holding of 13.3m shares worth £19.7m.
Jim Mellon is bullish about gold. We know this because the star private investor tweeted as much last week, noting the likely impact of the recent rise in US inflation. For further proof, we have his direct and indirect purchases of 1.64m shares in Condor Gold, the junior miner on whose board he sits as a non-executive director.
Through his own share account and Galloway Limited, a subsidiary of his wholly owned Burnbrae Group, the non-executive now has a 5.4 per cent stake in the Alternative Investment Market (Aim)-traded company worth £1.6m. The shares were acquired from Regent Pacific Group, an investment company also chaired by Mr Mellon.
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