Tritax Big Box REIT plc (the Company), in conjunction with its investor seminar later today, announces an update on its development performance for FY 2021 and year to date.
Market fundamentals remain strong
Strong occupier demand and historically low levels of available space are combining to create rental tension across the UK1.
• Occupier demand remains high with take up in 2021 exceeding 42 million sq ft for the second consecutive year (5-year average annual take up: 29 million sq ft).
• Volume of outstanding occupier requirements remains consistent with the record level of Q4 2020.
• There remains a shortage of ready to occupy vacant space with Q4 2021 vacancy at just 1.6%, which has led to occupiers moving early to secure units ahead of practical completion.
• UK logistics investment volumes totalled a record £16.5bn in 2021, up from £9.2bn in 2020. Recently completed transactions point to further downward pressure on prime yields.
• Yields for high quality buildings with 15+ year unexpired lease terms and either open market or index linked reviews are around 3.5% or below.
Successfully accelerating our development programme to capture strong occupier demand
We are accelerating our development programme into the face of strong and enduring occupier demand with 3-4 million sq ft of development starts expected over the next 12 months. We have an attractive development portfolio consisting of 38.6 million sq ft which has the potential to more than double contracted rent over the long-term.
Development achievements during FY 2021 and year to date include:
• 3.7 million sq ft of lease completions adding £24m to contracted rent.
• 1.3 million sq ft of developments currently under construction, potentially adding £10m to contracted rent, of which 21% has been pre-leased or is under offer.
• 1.0 million sq ft of additional space exchanged under an agreement for lease or under offer, due for near term construction commencement, adding a potential £6m to contracted rent.
• 3.0 million sq ft of new planning consents secured.
• Experiencing strong levels of occupier demand with total active negotiations across more than 10 million sq ft of logistics space over 12 sites.
• Awarded the GRESB 2021 Leader for Development in the European and Global Industrial Listed sectors, achieving the highest score for the global industrial sector of 97/100.
Colin Godfrey, CEO, Fund Management, commented:
“We continue to build momentum in our development portfolio with record levels of activity delivering 3.7 million sq ft of development completions in 2021. Today, with 2.3 million sq ft of sites either in construction or under offer, we go into 2022 in a strong position with increasing visibility on the delivery of our development pipeline. In addition, our commitment to deliver the most sustainable new logistics buildings has been recognised by GRESB which has awarded us the “Leader for Development in the European and Global Industrial Listed sector”. The progress we are making in development complements and supports our strong investment portfolio by delivering attractive and sustainable levels of total returns for our shareholders.”
Investor seminar
The Company will host a seminar for investors and analysts focused on our development portfolio at 2pm today. To join the seminar via webcast please use the following link:
https://webcasting.brrmedia.co.uk/broadcast/61b7484b6969867d61b00e98
The presentation referred to in the seminar will be made available on our website (https://www.tritaxbigbox.co.uk/investors/results-and-presentations) from 1:30pm.
Full year results
The Company will report its full year results on 3 March 2022 and will hold a presentation for investors and analysts from 9:30 am.
1 All market related data from CBRE as at Q4 2021.
