Assura Share Discussion Threads

[tole] 20/2/2022 15:43

My favourite penny stock to buy right now for incomeRupert Hargreaves | Sunday, 20th February, 2022 | More on: AGRPiggy bank group pastel color background Image source: Getty ImagesMy favourite penny stock to buy right now is also an income champion. What's more, while it qualifies as a penny stock, the company has a market capitalization of £1.6bn. This suggests the business has fewer risks than smaller enterprises, which usually fall into the penny share bracket. The company I am talking about is Assura (LSE: AGR). The corporation is a leading primary care property investor and developer. It owns an expanding portfolio of 634 properties in the healthcare sector across the UK. Defensive sector Healthcare is one of the most defensive sectors on the stock market. Property is also generally considered to be a defensive sector. The healthcare property sector combines the benefits of both. Most healthcare facilities are constructed to a specific standard, and they are let on extended leases to providers such as the NHS. With its steady, predictable income stream from the property portfolio, the penny stock has become an income champion over the past five years. At the time of writing, the stock supports a dividend yield of 5%. The payout has grown at a compound annual rate of 5% over the past six years as the company has increased the size of its property portfolio and expanded the rent roll. Assura's management plans to grow the portfolio further over the next couple of years. It has a development pipeline of 22 new schemes, and £71m of portfolio acquisitions were being negotiated at the beginning of the year. As the company has expanded, it has relied heavily on shareholders to provide additional capital. The average number of shares in issue has increased from 1.3bn in 2016 to 2.7bn. This dilution means that as the enterprise has increased the value of its portfolio by around 100% over the past six years, book value per share has risen by just 26%.The potential for further dilution is a significant risk facing investors. The company also has around £1bn of debt. The cost of this debt could increase with higher interest rates. Penny stock buy Despite these challenges, I think the healthcare facilities provider is one of the best investments to buy now for my portfolioIn fact, I think the business has fantastic potential over the next decade. Healthcare spending in the UK is only going to increase.The government has already laid out plans to open up more healthcare facilities across the country to deal with the current NHS backlog. This presents a fantastic opportunity for the group to acquire and build new facilities to meet the demand from the health service.With demand for these facilities set to grow in the years ahead, it looks as if Assura's dividend payout can continue to rise over the next decade and beyond. Considering its income and growth potential, I would be happy to buy the penny stock.

[essentialinvestor] 18/2/2022 17:32

Is this not just the new normal with a longer term rising rates backdrop?

That's why the NAV premiums are disappearing.

[steve3sandal] 18/2/2022 17:02

Nothing wrong with PHP results this week but AGR NAV premium has all but disappeared on an average of the various metrics. I’ve topped up again this afternoon at 60.something a full 3p below my last top up a week ago! Huh!

[jonwig] 18/2/2022 15:08

PHP's recent results were good, confirming the strength of the sector. If interest rates rise, the discount rate used in valuation will rise so the NAV (DCF of future earnings) will fall.

Whether the buildings part of the NAV will rise or fall is unclear, as we don't know how property markets will respond to the scenario, but AGR is not excessively geared, so I don't worry.

There's some adverse reaction to excessive NAV premiums, and that might be all there is to it!

[hybrasil] 18/2/2022 14:35

Graham
Look at the institutions that backed THG or ROO or Trustpilot. They have done done a lot worse than lose a mere 14% as is the case here.

From a chart view I think this could easily fall to 50p

[hybrasil] 17/2/2022 11:53

Id say they were desperate for yield!

[hybrasil] 15/2/2022 18:39

I see no reason to pay over nav here

[winsome] 07/2/2022 07:32

These are dropping in line with PHP, both of which I hold long term. I guess its inflation and rising interest rates that's forcing lower yielding holdings to sell off. I hope its short term. Meanwhile I suppose I'm getting great value for my reinvested dividends.

[jonwig] 04/2/2022 17:54

Bscuit - I've just checked the latest AR, and most rents are RPI linked or have a fixed uplift. I can't find any reference to cap or ceiling. If you can, I'd be interested.

In the case of SUPR, there seems to be a 4% cap on annual rent increases in most cases. That might be sound, because supermarket competition prevents them raising prices as much as they might want.

The last TS (10/01) carried no worries for me.

[bscuit] 04/2/2022 17:32

PHP virtually the same and even SUPR takes a hit, so it looks like this type of investment is no longer in favour – perhaps because of the cap on inflation linking on rents –?

[cwa1] 04/2/2022 16:43

That IS one hell of a drop. Just markets doing what they do, or something more worrying in the background we haven't heard about?

[badtime] 04/2/2022 16:01

Hmm..and yet continuing to drop

[jonwig] 30/1/2022 07:57

Thanks Jack:

Assura, which develops and leases surgeries in Britain, has turned a reliable income stream into a steady dividend for shareholders. Of the £1.6 billion in contracted rent, 82 per cent is paid or reimbursed to tenants by the NHS and the average length of leases is almost 12 years.

(Can read two free articles a week if you open an account.)

[cousin jack] 29/1/2022 23:06

The Tempus column in The Times today names this as one a several stocks it sees as safe havens in volatile times.

[badtime] 24/1/2022 11:16

Continued weakness in the share price which is disappointing

[cwa1] 13/1/2022 17:00

Over 30 million traded today, solid volume if not share price

[grahamite2] 29/12/2021 09:44

Nice change.

[cwa1] 08/12/2021 17:05

Hefty volume today

[cwa1] 02/12/2021 09:04

Assura plc ("Assura" or "the Company"), the UK's leading primary care property investor and developer, today announces that the next quarterly interim dividend of 0.74 pence per share will be paid on 12 January 2022 to shareholders on the register on 10 December 2021 (the "Record Date"). The Ex-dividend Date will be 9 December 2021.

[cwa1] 01/12/2021 16:38

Decent sized UT

[cwa1] 01/12/2021 09:33

Topped up the modest amount I got in the recent issue

[badtime] 30/11/2021 20:37

Much lower and I might do a top up having skipped the right's

[grahamite2] 24/11/2021 11:38

You're right, that's nonsense, isn't it? But I think I've been able to cancel all notifications without deleting the app.

[cwa1] 23/11/2021 13:37

Hmmmm. So you want to hear about the odd new issue you might be interested in...but not them all...tricky :-)