REI makes rapid return to profit

It delivered pre-tax profit of £13.9 million.

Chief executive Paul Bassi said: “Despite the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, REI has had a respectable year during which we have taken advantage of the private investor demand to sell some of our properties, using the disposal proceeds to repay £11.9m of debt, retaining £9.8m of cash.

“We believe we are set to see further valuation gains and occupancy improvement in the coming months and that this already active regional market is likely to be further boosted by the upcoming 2022 Commonwealth Games.”

The profit figure includes a £4.9m gain on property revaluations, a £1.2m profit on sale of investment property and £1.4m surplus on hedge valuations.

As a result, REI has declared a final dividend of 0.8125p per share, payable in April as a property income distribution, representing a fully covered dividend of 3.0625p for the year.

During the year, REI completed 15 disposals totalling £17.5m. It finished the year with £9.8m cash in the bank

Already in 2022, REI has completed £1.1m in disposals and has £7.5mn of sales in legals.

Mr Bassi added: “We continued to maintain high rent collection levels throughout 2021, with an overall collection level of 97.81 per cent, against a backdrop of the unfavourable government moratorium restrictions which are soon to expire. For Q1 2022, rent collection levels are currently at 99.42 per cent."

He said the first few months of 2022 had seen market recovery continue to gather pace which has been improved further by the step-by-step ceasing of UK restrictions and the return to normality that has been so eagerly awaited, led by the UK regions who are now at near-normal activity and ahead of London and the South East.

“REI’s portfolio, valued at £190.8 million, with 256 occupiers across 47 assets, has weathered the COVID storm and we believe is well placed to benefit from the ongoing revaluation and occupancy recovery," he added.