Yahoo News Assura Group 'well placed to support NHS' following strong first quarter
The CEO of healthcare property developer and investor Assura Group says the company remains well-placed to help support the NHS and wider healthcare market following a strong first quarter.
In a trading update for the period ended June 30, the Warrington business highlighted the completion of three developments – including a GP surgery in Shirley, an ambulance hub at Bury St Edmunds and its biggest in-house development to date, the Northumbria Health & Care Academy in Cramlington, Northumberland. It now has a portfolio of 612 properties with annual rent of £149.2m, slightly down on the March figure of £150.6m, and it settled 42 rent reviews in the quarter, covering £7m of existing rent and generating an uplift of £500,000.
A quarterly dividend was increased by 2.4% to 0.84 pence per share. Meanwhile, it has a pipeline of opportunities for strategic expansion and further growth, with five developments currently on site at a cost of £46m, of which £32m is remaining to be spent.
Assura has five schemes worth £28m in its immediate pipeline, as well as 15 capital asset enhancement projects planned over the next two years. In May the group and Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited (USS) – the principal pension scheme for universities and higher education institutions in the UK – announced they had entered into a new £250m 20:80 joint venture with Assura to support investment in essential NHS infrastructure.
Assura said the long-term partnership would support investment into essential NHS community healthcare buildings, helping to address the current backlog of patients waiting for care. The company said that, as the population ages and more people live with chronic conditions, modern, flexible healthcare buildings are central to the NHS’s priority of delivering more care closer to patients.
Since the announcement, an initial tranche of seven assets valued at £107m have been agreed for transfer to the joint venture.
Jonathan Murphy, CEO, said: “Over the first three months of our financial year we have continued to deliver on our strategic objectives, and remain extremely well-placed to help support the NHS and wider healthcare market: we deliver an exceptional product, have a strong financial position, and have a culture that focuses on all of our stakeholders to ensure we build strong relationships for the long-term.
“At our results in May, we announced we had entered into a £250m joint venture with USS, the largest private pension scheme in this country. This represents a significant and exciting step for Assura, providing further diversity of funding for future growth.
"It also allows us to recycle capital into our pipeline of opportunities across broader healthcare markets including with NHS Trusts, private hospitals, mental health and in Ireland. We continue to look at further emerging opportunities which could be funded through a variety of sources, including third party capital, whilst operating within our stated LTV policy range of 40-50%.
“The UK healthcare crisis is getting more severe by the year, which in turn is driving increased demand for healthcare infrastructure. The requirement for investment in this space has received cross-party political support, and we look forward to working with whichever party is in Government following today’s election.”
