The £98 million purchase of three UK supermarkets highlights how Supermarket Income REIT plc is leaning into its core strengths after what analysts describe as a transformational year.
In a note published on Wednesday, broker Peel Hunt said the acquisitions, a Tesco in Aylesbury, a Sainsbury’s in Sale and a Waitrose in Frimley, were firmly in keeping with the trust’s strategy of owning long-let grocery stores backed by strong tenants.
The £97.6 million outlay delivers an average net initial yield of 5.5%, a key metric that measures rental income as a percentage of the purchase price.
All three stores come with long-term, triple-net leases, meaning tenants shoulder most property costs, and rents that rise with inflation.
Lease lengths of between 11 and 16 years help lock in income visibility at a time when investors remain focused on reliability rather than rapid growth.
Peel Hunt noted that funding the purchases through existing debt lifts the group’s loan-to-value ratio to 43%, still within a range that most property investors would regard as comfortable.
The deal also nudges the proportion of investment-grade tenants in the portfolio up to 75%, reinforcing the defensive nature of the income stream.
The broker argues the acquisitions neatly cap a busy year for the trust, which has included bringing management in-house, setting up a joint venture with Blue Owl and issuing its first bond.
On Peel Hunt’s estimates, total “see-through” gross assets now exceed £1.9 billion.
From a valuation perspective, the shares continue to look attractive on paper. Peel Hunt calculates a forecast dividend yield of about 7.8% in 2026, with the shares trading at roughly a 9% discount to their underlying net asset value.
That combination of inflation-linked income, long leases and a discounted share price helps explain why analysts remain supportive.
In morning trading, the shares were steady at 79.97p, valuing the business at just shy of £1 billion.