Primary Health Properties' rental income rises, showcasing robust growth
Image: Independent Media
Primary Health Properties (PHP), a leading investor in modern primary care facilities in the UK and Ireland, in a trading update released on Monday said improving rental growth and stabilisation in yields underpin valuation growth.
For the six months to 30 June net rental income rose 3.1% to £78.6 million (R1.9 billion) with adjusted earnings per share up 2.3% to 3.54 pence. Dividends declared were 3.55 pence up 2.9%.
PHP said it had continued to focus on delivering organic rental growth derived from its existing assets. This growth arises mainly from rent reviews and asset management projects with income increasing by £2.2m, or 1.4%, in the six-month period. The company generated an additional £2.1m of extra rental income from its rent review activities, both in the UK and in Ireland.
The group said it continues to progress an advanced pipeline of 43 projects, which highlight the improving rental growth outlook with the current weighted average rent of £195psm (pounds per square meter) due to increase by around 15% to £223psm post completion.
As at June 30, 2025, the group's portfolio comprised 517 assets independently valued at £2.81 billion. After allowing for acquisition costs and capital expenditure on developments and asset management projects, the portfolio generated a valuation surplus of £19.8m.
PHP, which is secondary listed on the JSE, said it is excited about the compelling market backdrop for the group and opportunities ahead.
Mark Davies, the CEO of PHP, said, "At a
pivotal time for our sector, PHP has delivered a strong operational and financial performance driven by rental growth across our portfolio, a value-accretive acquisition in Ireland, valuation gains and another period of dividend growth. The improving rental growth outlook and a stabilisation of our property yields at 5.25% signal that we've moved through a key inflexion point in the property cycle with a very encouraging outlook ahead."
Davies said the British Government's 10 year Health Plan, which was published last week is clearly positive for PHP. PHP welcomes the government's commitment to strengthening the National Health Service, particularly its emphasis on shifting more services to modern primary care facilities embedded in local communities.
"This plays directly to our strengths and our long standing partnerships across the NHS give us a strong foundation to support this transition and deliver value to our shareholders," Davies said.
On the takeover bid, he said PHP continues to believe in the compelling strategic and financial rationale for the recommended combination with Assura plc.
"The transaction is expected to be earnings accretive for both sets of shareholders and we were pleased to have secured strong support for the transaction from PHP shareholders at our general meeting last week with over 99% of voting shareholders approving the proposed combination," Davies said. "This is a clear endorsement of the company's ability to deliver a financially beneficial transaction that is strategically valuable, supported by an expected strong investment grade credit rating that will deliver future value to shareholders and underpin the Group's progressive dividend policy."
Since the announcement of the Assura plc recommendation, PHP has been discussing forming a joint venture, which is expected to include the private hospital portfolio.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
IOL News
10 hours ago
- IOL News
Orion Minerals raises capital to advance Prieska Copper Zinc Mine development
The Prieska Copper Zinc Mine is the centrepiece of Orion's future-facing metals portfolio. Image: Supplied Orion Minerals' share price shot up 7.1% on the JSE Tuesday morning after it announced plans to issue shares and raise about R67 million to further its Prieska Copper Zinc Mine (PCZM). The funds raised from the placement and share purchase plan will be used mainly to partially fund the development of the Uppers at the PCZM, including ongoing dewatering and site works; for mine development optimisation studies, and ongoing site works at the Okiep Copper Project, the Australia and Johannesburg-listed company said in a notice Tuesday. The funds will also be used for general working capital purposes, including work associated with the finalisation of off-take related funding for the development of PCZM. Typically, company share prices fall when a share issue-for-cash is announced, so the higher share price indicates investor confidence in the mining development company's prospects. The share price had gained over 7% to 14 cents on the JSE by Tuesday midday. The price has nevertheless fallen from 20 cents a year ago. The capital raise entails the issue of 522 million shares to investors. There are some 6.85 billion shares in issue. The mine in June hosted Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe at Orion's flagship PCZM, as it progresses towards becoming a copper and zinc producer. The visit had followed the release of the PCZM Definitive Feasibility Studies in March, which outlined a two-phase development strategy to de-risk the mine's development strategy and accelerate value creation. The company said in a statement at the time that this plan should deliver first production of the Upper-level phase within 13 months of the start of construction. Orion had delivered positive studies for both PCZM and the Flat Mines Project at Okiep. The company said on its website that PCZM had the potential to become a long-life, financially robust mining operation with an annual steady-state production of 22 kilotons of copper and 65 kilotons of zinc. Orion's former MD and CEO Errol Smart said in the quarterly report to the end of December 2024, that: '2025 is set to be a big year for Orion as we transition from being explorers to becoming mine developers.' During the December 2024 quarter, good progress was made on the Definitive Feasibility Studies (DFS) for both PCZM and the project in Okiep. Both studies were then released at the end of the quarter to March 2025. 'Both studies delivered favourable outcomes, confirming the ability to deliver safe, modern, and fully mechanised copper mines,' the company's new MD and CEO Tony Lennox said in its March quarterly Activities Report. At that time, the company said its key focus areas for the coming months were project financing; project implementation planning; concentrate off-take negotiations; agreements with service providers for key early works activities and long-lead time items.
TimesLIVE
13 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
Capitec's growth dwarfs rivals as it closes in on FirstRand
Capitec is closing in on Africa's most valuable lender tag after outperforming the market over the past five years with its share price up nearly 350% in the period. The Stellenbosch-based bank is now just R4bn shy of FirstRand's market value of R416bn on the JSE. South Africa's top six banks — FirstRand, Capitec, Standard Bank, Nedbank, Absa and Investec — are worth a combined R1.5-trillion. Capitec's market value has gone up 348% in the past five years, taking the group's worth to R412bn. FirstRand, whose brands include FNB, Rand Merchant Bank and WesBank, is up 96% in the period, while Africa's largest bank by assets, Standard Bank, is up 121%. Nedbank is up 137%, while Absa is up 120%, and Investec has surged 294% — the second-best performance in the sector behind Capitec in the period. The outperformance of Capitec has seen the lender leapfrog Standard Bank as the country's second most valuable bank, with the latter worth R371bn on the local bourse. The growth of South Africa's banks mirror the rally of the all-share index since the formation of the government of national unity a year ago.
IOL News
a day ago
- IOL News
Primary Health Properties' rental income rises, showcasing robust growth
Primary Health Properties (PHP) gave a positive trading update on Monday. Image: Independent Media Primary Health Properties (PHP), a leading investor in modern primary care facilities in the UK and Ireland, in a trading update released on Monday said improving rental growth and stabilisation in yields underpin valuation growth. For the six months to 30 June net rental income rose 3.1% to £78.6 million (R1.9 billion) with adjusted earnings per share up 2.3% to 3.54 pence. Dividends declared were 3.55 pence up 2.9%. PHP said it had continued to focus on delivering organic rental growth derived from its existing assets. This growth arises mainly from rent reviews and asset management projects with income increasing by £2.2m, or 1.4%, in the six-month period. The company generated an additional £2.1m of extra rental income from its rent review activities, both in the UK and in Ireland. The group said it continues to progress an advanced pipeline of 43 projects, which highlight the improving rental growth outlook with the current weighted average rent of £195psm (pounds per square meter) due to increase by around 15% to £223psm post completion. As at June 30, 2025, the group's portfolio comprised 517 assets independently valued at £2.81 billion. After allowing for acquisition costs and capital expenditure on developments and asset management projects, the portfolio generated a valuation surplus of £19.8m. PHP, which is secondary listed on the JSE, said it is excited about the compelling market backdrop for the group and opportunities ahead. Mark Davies, the CEO of PHP, said, "At a pivotal time for our sector, PHP has delivered a strong operational and financial performance driven by rental growth across our portfolio, a value-accretive acquisition in Ireland, valuation gains and another period of dividend growth. The improving rental growth outlook and a stabilisation of our property yields at 5.25% signal that we've moved through a key inflexion point in the property cycle with a very encouraging outlook ahead." Davies said the British Government's 10 year Health Plan, which was published last week is clearly positive for PHP. PHP welcomes the government's commitment to strengthening the National Health Service, particularly its emphasis on shifting more services to modern primary care facilities embedded in local communities. "This plays directly to our strengths and our long standing partnerships across the NHS give us a strong foundation to support this transition and deliver value to our shareholders," Davies said. On the takeover bid, he said PHP continues to believe in the compelling strategic and financial rationale for the recommended combination with Assura plc. "The transaction is expected to be earnings accretive for both sets of shareholders and we were pleased to have secured strong support for the transaction from PHP shareholders at our general meeting last week with over 99% of voting shareholders approving the proposed combination," Davies said. "This is a clear endorsement of the company's ability to deliver a financially beneficial transaction that is strategically valuable, supported by an expected strong investment grade credit rating that will deliver future value to shareholders and underpin the Group's progressive dividend policy." Since the announcement of the Assura plc recommendation, PHP has been discussing forming a joint venture, which is expected to include the private hospital portfolio.
