LondonMetric pays Q4 dividend, eyes rise in online food shopping

Property manager LondonMetric paid a fourth quarter dividend as looked to cash in on the rise in online shopping during the coronavirus lockdown.

The company, which owns logistics distribution centres, on Wednesday said it had collected 93% of rent due by April 1 and 94% of monthly rents due over the two month period to 25 May and forgiven 1% of rent du as it maintained a '”can pay, should pay” rent payment policy with tenants affected by the Covid-19 crisis.

LondonMetric reported a marked increase in demand for distribution capacity as more people moved to buy their groceries online as the pandemic took hold, with 26% growth in online food sales now expected for 2020 compared to previous predictions of 9% prior to the pandemic.

"This is creating a chronic shortage of capacity and, with new supply currently constrained, the demand/supply dynamics remain strong. This provides terrific certainty in an uncertain world and helps to ensure that the intrinsic value of warehousing continues to grow," the company said.

“We acted swiftly to counter attempts to withhold payment and this has paid off. Remarkably, it was some of the more financially robust occupiers that initially proved more problematic and we have been very clear that those that can afford to pay should pay,” said chief executive Andrew Jones.

A final quarter dividend of 2.3p a share was declared, making 8.3p for the year, a rise of 1%, while net rental income rose to £116m from £93.8m. NAV fell to 171.7p from 174.9p.

LondonMetric said concessions to tenants had now increased the proportion of rent received monthly in advance instead of quarterly to 18% of income compared to 13% prior to the pandemic.

“We have agreed compensatory asset management initiatives across 4% of our income. In return for near term rent concessions, we are agreeing on initiatives with occupiers which lengthen and strengthen the future income streams from our assets,” the company said.

Short term rental deferments were agreed on a further 2% of rent with near term concessions expected to be recovered over the 12 subsequent months.

In a separate announcement, the LondonMetric said it had exchanged contracts on 213,000 square feet of distribution lettings with four companies, generating an uplift in rent of £1.4m a year.