CLS Holdings PLC (LON:CLI) said it has received 96% of the rent due for the second quarter ended June 30, 2020, rising to 98% considering the 99% received in the first quarter of the year.
The commercial property investor said its vacancy rate had increased to 5.2% at the quarter-end, up from 4.0% as at December 31, 2019, which was to be expected due to completed refurbishments, which are now available to let, UK tenants leaving their spaces, and other recent lease expiries across the portfolio.
Since April 8, 2020, the FTSE 250-listed firm said it has completed 25 deals, securing £3.2mln in annual rent. As of June 30, 2020, the group had £190mln in the bank with a further £50mln in undrawn loan facilities and £114.5mln of debt.
In a trading update for the period from January 1, 2020 to July 7, 2020, Fredrik Widlund, chief executive of CLS, commented: "As the lockdown measures are eased, we remain focused on the welfare of our staff and other stakeholders while also recognising that we need to do what we can to help the economy get back to normality. All of our offices across the UK, Germany and France are open and we have made the necessary modifications to make the buildings compliant with Covid-19 safety measures to ensure we continue to support our tenants.
"Our tenant base has a strong underpinning of government and major corporations, with limited exposure to those sectors that have been most impacted by Covid-19, such as retail, hospitality and leisure. We are continuing to work closely with our tenants and this can be seen in our rent collections, which have continued to perform well, demonstrating the resilience of our business and strategy."
CLS shares rose 1% to 202.2p early on Wednesday.
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