Empiric Student Property PLC Dividend Declaration (8465T)

TIDMESP

RNS Number : 8465T

Empiric Student Property PLC

11 January 2017

11 January 2017

Empiric Student Property plc

("Empiric" or the "Company" or, together with its subsidiaries, the "Group")

Dividend Declaration

The Board of Empiric Student Property plc (ticker: ESP), the owner and operator of premium student accommodation across the UK, has declared a dividend of 1.55 pence per Ordinary Share in respect of the quarter ended 31 December 2016, payable on or around 8 February 2017 to Ordinary Shareholders on the register on 20 January 2017. The ex-dividend date will be 19 January 2017.

0.93 pence of this dividend will be paid as a Property Income Distribution ("PID") in respect of the Company's tax exempt property rental business and 0.62 pence will be paid as an ordinary UK dividend ("non-PID").

The Board is targeting a dividend of 6.1p per share for the 12 months ending 30 June 2017(1) . The Board expects all future dividend payments to be substantially, if not fully, covered by adjusted earnings with effect from January 2017.

Note:

(1) The target dividend is a target only and not a forecast. There can be no assurance that the target will be met and it should not be taken as an indication of the Company's expected or actual future results.

For further information on the Company, please contact:

 
 Empiric Student Property plc       (via Newgate below) 
 Paul Hadaway (Chief Executive) 
 Tim Attlee (Chief Investment 
  Officer) 
 Michael Enright (Chief Financial 
  Officer) 
 
 Akur Limited (Joint Financial      Tel: [phone] 
  Adviser) 
 Tom Frost 
 Anthony Richardson 
 Siobhan Sergeant 
 
 Jefferies International Limited    Tel: [phone] 
  (Joint Financial Adviser and 
  Broker) 
 Gary Gould 
 Stuart Klein 
 
 Newgate (PR Adviser)               Tel: [phone] 
 James Benjamin                     Em: [e-mail] 
 Zoe Pocock 
 Lydia Thompson 
 

Further information on Empiric can be found on the Company's website at www.empiric.co.uk.

Notes:

Empiric Student Property plc is a leading provider and operator of modern, direct-let, nominated or leased student accommodation across the UK. Investing in both operating and development assets, Empiric is a multi-niche student property company focused on, (i) providing good quality first year accommodation managed through its Hello Student(R) operating platform in partnership with universities, (ii) offering a variety of second and third year purpose built accommodation options for individual students and those wanting a group living environment, and (iii) continuing to expand the Group's existing premium, studio-led accommodation portfolio which is attractive to international and postgraduate students.

The Company, an internally managed real estate investment trust ("REIT") incorporated in England and Wales, listed on the premium listing segment of the Official List of the Financial Conduct Authority and was admitted to trading on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange in June 2014.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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January 11, 2017 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)