Unite Group PLC (The) Coronavirus update (1869G)

TIDMUTG

RNS Number : 1869G

Unite Group PLC (The)

16 March 2020

 
 
   Press release 
 
   16 March 2020 
 

THE UNITE GROUP PLC

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

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

The Company notes the statements by a number of UK universities in response to Coronavirus, confirming that some face-to-face teaching has been suspended in the weeks leading up to Easter. University campuses, libraries and halls of residence remain open.

The safety and wellbeing of the students who live with us and our employees remains our top priority. The Company continues to operate all of its properties and has implemented advice from the World Health Organisation and Public Health England. We are in active dialogue with our university partners and will continue to provide our students with support and access to the most up-to-date information.

There has been no noticeable impact to date on Unite's sales performance for the 2020/21 academic year. Reservations are currently 77% (77% at the same time last year) and sales to and enquiries from international students remain in line with prior years.

We now plan to operate a reduced programme of summer business in 2020 given the risk of disruption to bookings. The removal of variable costs associated with our summer business will help to mitigate the impact on earnings, which we do not expect to be material. Summer business accounted for 3% of rental income in 2019.

We will provide a further update in relation to Coronavirus as appropriate. The quarterly valuation update for USAF and LSAV is scheduled for 8 April.

- ENDS -

For further information, please contact:

 
          Unite Students 
           Richard Smith / Joe Lister / Michael              Tel: [phone] 
           Burt 
 Powerscourt                                               Tel: [phone] 
  Justin Griffiths / Victoria Heslop 
 

Notes to editors:

About Unite Students

Unite Students is the UK's largest owner, manager and developer of purpose-built student accommodation serving the country's world-leading Higher Education sector.

Following our successful GBP1.4bn acquisition of Liberty Living's UK assets in November 2019, we now provide homes to 74,000 students across 177 properties in 27 leading university towns and cities.

Our people are driven by a common purpose: to provide a 'Home for Success' for the students who live with us and to be the most trusted brand in the sector. We do this through quality service, quality people and quality properties, all designed on the basis of an excellent insight into students' needs and preferences.

Unite's accommodation is high quality, affordable, safe and secure, and located where students want to live. Students live predominantly in en-suite study bedrooms with rents covering all bills, insurance, 24-hour security and high-speed Wi-Fi. MyUnite, our mobile app, provides practical support such as instant messaging and maintenance requests.

We hold a five-star British Safety Council audit rating (out of five) following an Occupational Health and Safety audit. The audit measured our performance against a number of key safety management indicators, providing an international benchmark for safety management systems and indicating best practice for continual improvement.

Our commitment to customer service is powered by an innovative, in-house operating platform. It provides a wide range of benefits to our students, such as an optimised online booking process, as well as providing us with a unique ability to drive value from our portfolio through scale efficiencies and revenue management.

Our other strategic priority is delivering growing and sustainable earnings, underpinned by a strong capital structure. A key part of this strategy is growing the number of beds let through partnerships with the strongest UK universities, which are experiencing record levels of student demand. We currently partner with 45 universities across the UK, guaranteeing that 56% of our rooms are let under 'nomination agreements' providing high visibility of forward occupancy and rental growth.

Unite Students has spent years helping young people thrive in new situations and help them manage the big 'Leap' to university life. Our insight has identified a significant gap between student expectations and reality. To support this leap, we have developed the Leapskills programme, helping to prepare prospective students for independent living. The programme introduces students to a number of student life scenarios to provoke group discussion on conflict resolution, problem solving and gives a general insight into shared living to help closer match expectations to reality.

Unite is the founder of and major donor to the Unite Foundation, a charitable trust established to support talented students facing challenging financial circumstances through the provision of free accommodation scholarships. The Foundation has so far provided scholarships for 434 young people working in close collaboration with 27 partner universities.

Unite is invested in and operates two specialist funds and joint ventures with institutional investment partners: the GBP3 billion Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund (USAF), and the GBP1 billion London Student Accommodation Vehicle (LSAV).

Founded in 1991 in Bristol, Unite Group is an award-winning Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), listed on the London Stock Exchange and a member of the FTSE 250 Index.

For more information, please 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

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March 16, 2020 03:00 ET (07:00 GMT)