Unite Group PLC AGM Statement and Trading Update (7911E)

TIDMUTG

RNS Number : 7911E

Unite Group PLC

11 May 2017

 
 
 
   11 May 2017 
 

THE UNITE GROUP PLC

('Unite Students', 'Unite', the 'Group', or the 'Company')

AGM STATEMENT AND TRADING UPDATE

Unite Students, the UK's leading manager and developer of student accommodation, issues a Trading Update for the period from 1 January 2017 to date, ahead of its Annual General Meeting to be held today at 10.00 am.

The business continues to perform strongly in 2017 with good levels of demand for our accommodation from students from the UK, the EU and other international students. This demand has translated into a strong lettings performance, with reservations at 82% at 11 May (80% in 2016) at pricing that is supportive of like for like rental growth of 3.0-3.5%.

We have made good progress in enhancing the quality of the portfolio, recycling GBP434 million from the sale of non-core assets (Unite share: GBP170 million, against a Unite share target of GBP150-GBP200 million for the year), which will be used to fund our development pipeline through to the end of 2019. The development pipeline now totals over 7,000 beds in strong university locations and is expected to add 12-14p of earnings per share when completed and fully let. We are continuing to see further development opportunities for 2020 and beyond.

We have also made positive progress following the acquisition of our first major on-campus portfolio at Aston University with reservations across the property already at over 90% for the 2017/18 academic year. These reservations are under-pinned by a new nomination agreement with Aston University for 1,950 beds; with the remaining beds let directly to students. This initial one-year nomination agreement for our first full year of operation was agreed in a short time period and is the first stage of a long-term strategic relationship between the University and Unite Students.

Richard Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Unite Students, commented:

"We have made excellent progress in the first four months of the year, not only in the progression of our development pipeline, but in strengthening our relationships with Universities and continuing to demonstrate how our market leading operating platform enables great customer service. Our lettings for 2017/18 are substantially under-pinned and given the ongoing high demand for quality accommodation from students and Universities alike, we remain confident in the outlook for the remainder of the year and beyond."

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

 
 Unite Students 
  Joe Lister, Chief Financial Officer      Tel: +44 117 
  Caroline Hall, PA to Chief Financial     302 7005 
  Officer 
 Bell Pottinger 
  Victoria Geoghegan                       Tel: +44 20 
  Nick Lambert                             3772 2562 
  Elizabeth Snow 
 

Notes to editors:

About Unite Students

Unite Students is the UK's largest and most established manager and developer of purpose built student accommodation. It provides a home for around 50,000 students, in more than 140 properties, across 28 leading university cities in England and Scotland. Unite works in partnership with more than 60 Higher Education institutions and also lets rooms directly to students.

Unite's purpose is to provide a home to its culturally diverse customers, offering them a strong foundation for academic and personal success. The accommodation is high quality, safe and close to university campuses, transport links and local amenities. Students live in ensuite study bedrooms with rents covering all bills, insurance, 24hour security, fortnightly cleaning of communal kitchens and bathrooms and high speed WiFi.

Founded in 1991 in Bristol, The Unite Group plc is a FTSE250 company, listed on the London Stock Exchange, employing more than 1,250 people. It pursues a sustainable growth strategy, designed to make the most of the resilient nature of the student accommodation sector. Unite is focused on maintaining its position as the leading provider of student accommodation in the UK, by having the best brand, operating the highest quality portfolio and maintaining the strongest capital structure in the sector. This is achieved with consistent investment in, and improvement to, the operating platform; highly selective development activity and asset management initiatives.

Unite is invested in and operates a two specialist funds and joint ventures with institutional investment partners, the GBP2 billion Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund (USAF) and the GBP1 billion London Student Accommodation Vehicle (LSAV).

Unite is the founder and major donor of the Unite Foundation. Since 2012 this has provided free student accommodation and financial support to 160 young people in the UK who lack family support.

For more information you can visit Unite's corporate website www.unite-group.co.uk, the student site www.unite-students.com or the Unite Foundation www.unitefoundation.co.uk.

LEI: 213800BBUUWVDH9YI827

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May 11, 2017 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)