The Board of Walls & Futures REIT plc (“the Company”) is pleased to announce its audited Final Results for the period ended 31st March 2017.
The Company has had a busy and productive year, completing the restructure, raising over £1m in new equity and obtaining admission to the NEX Exchange Growth Market. With those tasks complete we now have the platform to scale the Company and achieve our goal of delivering secure long term income with capital growth from UK residential property.
The last 18 months has seen a number of significant achievements including:
- successfully restructured the Walls & Futures London Growth Fund;
- £1m in new equity raised in November 2016;
- admission to the NEX Exchange Growth Market;
- REIT status obtained;
- completion of first investment in the Supported Housing Sector;
The costs incurred in restructuring the group, together with a small decline in the capital value of the London portfolio, equated to approximately 10p per share with a resultant fall in Net Asset Value at the year end to just above 90p per share. However, we are confident that the half year figures will show an improvement on this number.
In order to deliver the best outcome, our strategy is to build a portfolio of high yielding residential properties that offer secure income from high-quality tenants. Ideally, the properties will be let on long leases with rents increasing in line with inflation in order to provide an element of predictable growth.
We have shifted our focus from the London Private Rented Sector to the Social Housing Sector as its profile matches the investment criteria better. With a large and growing need for this type of property, we feel that we can make a positive social impact at the same time as delivering on our investment goals.
A significant milestone, achieved after the financial year end, has been our first investment in the Social Housing Sector – a grade two listed building in the Cotswolds market town of Stroud. Once the extensive redevelopment program is completed, it will provide a high-quality home with specialist support to six adults with physical & learning disabilities and/or mental health needs. The property is already let on a 25-year full repairing and insuring lease, with rents adjusted annually in line with inflation (CPI), to one of the UK’s leading care providers which has more than 50 years’ experience in the sector and currently supports more than 2,500 adults nationwide.
We are currently fully invested and intend to fund our pipeline with a placing and open offer of new shares in the near future.
Joe McTaggart (Chief Executive) commented:
“Everyone at Walls & Futures has worked incredibly hard to build a solid foundation from which we can move forward. We have a strong pipeline and are working on some exciting projects that we want to complete over the next few months. All of our properties are now let which will transform our revenue stream as we progress”.
Download Accounts here Walls & Futures REIT plc (WAFR) Annual Report & Accounts 2017