Ediston Property Inv Comp PLC Hull, Kingston Retail Park - new lettings (0800U)

TIDMEPIC

RNS Number : 0800U

Ediston Property Inv Comp PLC

27 March 2019

27 March 2019

Ediston Property Investment Company plc

Hull, Kingston Retail Park - new lettings

Ediston Property Investment Company plc (LSE: EPIC) ('the Company') announces that it has successfully let three vacant units to two new tenants at Kingston Retail Park in Hull. This follows on from the letting to B&M last year, which increased its representation on the park from 10,271 sq. ft. to 24,225 sq. ft.

The Company has completed the lettings of units 5a, 5b and 5c which extend to a total of 18,868 sq. ft. Iceland Foods Limited has signed a ten-year lease, without break, on units 5b and 5c which have a total area of 13,672 sq. ft. Iceland will trade the store as a 'Food Warehouse'. Sue Ryder has signed a ten-year lease with a five-year tenant break option on unit 5a, which extends to 5,196 sq. ft. If Sue Ryder were to exercise its break clause, it would be required to pay the Company a penalty equivalent to six-months rent. Both tenants have been granted a short rent-free period of three months.

The retail park was acquired in December 2017. Units 5a, 5b and 5c were vacant, but benefited from a rental guarantee from the previous owner, which was due to expire in December 2019. The Company has paid for the reconfiguration of the units to facilitate the lettings and has made a capital contribution to the tenants. Allowing for an offset from the guarantee account, the net capital cost to the Company was c. GBP484,000.

These transactions have secured GBP262,736 of income per annum beyond the expiry of the rental guarantee period. As a result of these lettings and the others which the Company has recently announced, the EPRA vacancy rate has reduced from 6.3% as at 31 December 2018, to 3.1%.

Calum Bruce, Director of Investment at Ediston Properties Limited, the Company's Investment Manager, said: "Whilst fully accepting the challenging conditions for retail generally, the leasing transactions announced by the Company thus far in 2019 in Sunderland, Barnsley, Prestatyn and now Hull show that well located retail parks, let off sensible rental levels, continue to be attractive to retailers with propositions relevant to the needs of their customers."

For further information:

   Ediston Properties Limited (Investment Manager)           0131 225 5599 

Calum Bruce

   Canaccord Genuity Limited                                                   020 7523 8000 

Will Barnett

Neil Brierley

Dominic Waters

David Yovichic

Kaso Legg Communications

   Ben Robinson                                                                          0203 137 7821 
   Stephanie Ross                                                                        0203 137 7784 
   Maitland Group (Company Secretary)                                0131 550 3763 

Donald Cameron

Notes to editors:

Ediston Property Investment Company plc is a UK real estate investment trust (REIT) with a premium listing on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange. The Company invests in UK commercial real estate assets to achieve its objective of providing its shareholders with an attractive level of income together with the potential for capital and income growth. It invests principally in three commercial property sectors: office, retail (including retail warehouses) and industrial, without regard to a traditional property market relative return benchmark. The Company launched in October 2014 and as of 31 December 2018 it owned 17 properties with a value of GBP332m.

Portfolio management services are undertaken by Ediston Properties Limited, which currently manages property assets across the UK for institutional investors.

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March 27, 2019 03:00 ET (07:00 GMT)