Segro PLC (LON:SGRO) has raised around £450mln via a share placing to invest in a pipeline of UK and European projects as the real estate investment trust reported strong 2018 results.
The FTSE 100-listed developer and manager of warehouses and industrial properties said a total of 71mln new ordinary shares in the company were placed by Merrill Lynch International at a price of 635p each, a discount of 2.0% to its closing share price of 648.2p on 14 February. The placing shares being issued represent approximately 7.0% of Segro’s issued ordinary share capital.
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David Sleath, chief executive of Segro, commented: "We are on course to invest over £600mln in further development projects and additional land purchases this year. We believe using new equity alongside our existing debt facilities and the proceeds from normal course portfolio recycling will ensure that we can continue to deliver the attractive returns from development while retaining a strong balance sheet."
For the year ended 31 December 2018, Segro reported a 24.4% rise in adjusted pre-tax profit to £241.5mln boosted by high customer retention rates, like-for-like rental growth and a low vacancy rate.
The company saw its EPRA diluted net asset value increase by 16.9% to 650p per share, with its portfolio valued at 9.425bn at the year-end, up 10.7% from a year earlier.
Segro said it has £46mln of potential rent from its current development pipeline, of which almost three quarters have been secured, with the entire current pipeline due to complete in 2019.
The company did caution over the potential for acute effects on markets from a disorderly no-deal Brexit but said it judged the chances of an adverse impact on its business as "low".
The group hiked its total dividend for 2018 by 13.3% to 18.8p, up from 16.6p a year earlier.
In afternoon trading, Segro shares were 0.3% higher at 649.80p.
-- Adds placing details, updates share price --