Yew Grove annual rent roll boosted by letting of Cork Airport unit

Real estate investment trust Yew Grove updated investors on recent asset management and non-core property sale developments on Monday.

Yew Grove said it had agreed to the letting of 20,268 square feet of a unit within Cork Airport Business Park to Alter Domus Fund Services on a 15-year lease term at a headline rate of €16.50 per square foot, plus a licence for 79 additional car spaces at a rent of €200 per space per year.

The AIM-listed company has also signed two further new leases, both in the Bridge Centre in Tullamore. The first, to An Post, was for its current units 23 and 23a, while the second was for 1,193 square feet to Byron Distribution in Unit 11, again for a ten-year lease but at a rent of €27.07 per square foot.

Yew Grove added that it had also progressed plans to sell non-core properties, with a vacant industrial unit in Stillorgan sold for total proceeds of €1.46m and two units at Centrepoint Business Park in Clondalkin being offloaded for €950,000.

The group said the effect of the transactions was to increase its annual rent roll to €11.3m and reduce the vacancy by ERV from 7.2% to 3.9% of its portfolio.

Chief executive Jonathan Laredo said: "Despite all of the economic disruption and personal pain wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic, Ireland has shown its resilience, both economically, led by an outstanding performance from its export-led businesses and through effective control of the spread of infection.

"With the reopening of the economy and the prospect of vaccination programmes being rolled out from early next year, I look forward to the return of normality and a prosperous, less socially distanced 2021."

As of 0910 GMT, Yew Grove shares were up 1.78% at €0.86 each.