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UTG Unite Group Plc

957.00
0.00 (0.00%)
19 Mar 2024 - Closed
Delayed by 15 minutes
Share Name Share Symbol Market Type Share ISIN Share Description
Unite Group Plc LSE:UTG London Ordinary Share GB0006928617 ORD 25P
  Price Change % Change Share Price Shares Traded Last Trade
  0.00 0.00% 957.00 0.00 00:00:00
Bid Price Offer Price High Price Low Price Open Price
957.00 958.00
Industry Sector Turnover Profit EPS - Basic PE Ratio Market Cap
Real Estate Agents & Mgrs 276.1M 119.4M 0.2966 32.28 3.85B
Last Trade Time Trade Type Trade Size Trade Price Currency
- O 0 957.00 GBX

Unite (UTG) Latest News

Unite (UTG) Discussions and Chat

Unite (UTG) Most Recent Trades

Trade Time Trade Price Trade Size Trade Value Trade Type
2024-03-18 17:21:38956.982,93428,077.85O
2024-03-18 17:19:57944.431311,237.20O
2024-03-18 17:17:23943.5150471.76O
2024-03-18 17:16:35954.631,60015,274.10O
2024-03-18 17:09:42955.004103,915.49O

Unite (UTG) Top Chat Posts

Top Posts
Posted at 18/3/2024 08:20 by Unite Daily Update
Unite Group Plc is listed in the Real Estate Agents & Mgrs sector of the London Stock Exchange with ticker UTG. The last closing price for Unite was 957p.
Unite currently has 402,581,000 shares in issue. The market capitalisation of Unite is £3,854,713,075.
Unite has a price to earnings ratio (PE ratio) of 32.28.
This morning UTG shares opened at -
Posted at 27/2/2024 10:57 by speedsgh
Final dividend: 23.60p
Payment date: 24/5/24
Ex-div: 18/4/24

We are proposing a final dividend payment of 23.6p per share (2022: 21.7p), making 35.4p for the full year (2022: 32.7p) and representing an 8% increase compared to 2022. This represents a payout ratio of 80% of adjusted EPS. The final dividend will be fully paid as a Property Income Distribution (PID) of 23.6p, which we expect to fully satisfy our PID requirement for the 2023 financial year.

Subject to approval at Unite's Annual General Meeting on 16 May 2024, the dividend will be paid in either cash or new ordinary shares (a 'scrip dividend alternative') on 24 May 2024 to shareholders on the register at close of business on 19 April 2024. The last date for receipt of scrip elections will be 2 May 2024.
Posted at 19/2/2024 07:20 by maddox
Unite have landed a sizeable Uni deal - a joint venture with Newcastle University to develop 2000 beds.

Unite will act as developers and ongoing asset manager with a 51% ownership, putting in 51.2% of the £250m capital. The 51% share is all important in ceding overall control of the jv to Unite; this signifies the trust that Newcastle Uni is placing in Unite. Unite's strong reputation places them in pole position to secure such deals with Unis - deals which will be long-term and upon which the Uni's students' well-being will be dependent.

This is a nice Uni partnership deal that will hopefully be a model for others; the effect of which will be to accelerate development in a hugely under-provided market.
Posted at 19/1/2024 12:14 by maddox
The immediate fall-back in UTG's share price suggests that it's responding to the influence of the inflation rate/interest rate figures. The 'surprise' slight rise in inflation in December will perhaps cause interest rate cuts to be postponed.

The consensus remains intact - that interest rates have peaked - so it's perhaps just a matter of timing.
Posted at 19/12/2023 13:50 by maddox
UTG appears to be breaking out of the channel we've been in since around March 2023. As I post 1040p and trailing yield of c.3%.

The outlook for UTG in 2024 is IMHO on-balance looking very positive.

The handover from Richard Smith CEO to Joe Lister current CFO, following a Board managed selection process, will undoubtedly be smooth. They have worked together for 13 years in their respective roles. Joe has been very impressive as CFO and is an excellent choice.

The market environment couldn't be more positive. Demand for PBSA is growing at the same time as private student landlords are exiting the market - such that the undersupply is widening. The effect of course is to drive up rents and make PBSA the lower cost option further supporting demand and occupancy levels.

It appears that we have hit peak UK interest rates and thus the attraction of Gilts will wane in 2024. Switching into assets with a growing yield will look increasingly attractive. However, there is a wide spectrum of opinion about when we'll see cuts to interest rates, how fast they'll come down and where they will rest.

On the risk side there are a few areas to keep an eye on:

Build cost inflation is likely to remain a dampening factor on the economics of new build. This may equilibrate as this is passed on to lower land prices assisted by less competition from other uses such as office and retail. Although we might anticipate Build to Rent (BtR) demand to grow in response to attractive rental yields to add competition for development sites. So, quite a dynamic picture may unfold - that might itself make investment decisions more difficult.

Thankfully, the Govt appears not to be acting against international students to any meaningful extent - despite the continuing stupidity of including students in ONS immigration figures. Nevertheless, with immigration remaining politically sensitive International Students are a soft target, so this risk remains to the fore.

Another pandemic I'm completely discounting - this is the most serious risk as we have witnessed first-hand but is extremely unlikely.

Substitution risk, from on-line learning - Covid-19 has proven this to be unattractive as a replacement to in-person teaching.

Up-side risk: A large Uni deal is a possibility but whilst much mentioned by mgt - doesn't seem to materialise.

I’d be very happy to be contradicted on any of the above – always better to have alternative views to avoid missing obvious risk factors or overly optimistic (a particular fault of mine).
Posted at 24/10/2023 22:59 by maddox
Ha Ha I assume your post is aimed at Blackhorse-down strawberry. I doubt he'll see your post as he's posted widely and indiscriminately to try and support his latest trade.

I follow WJG as operating in PBSA, as I also follow ESP and DIGS, but not invested. He started ramping around 20 Sep, WJG share price c. 41p so about 12% down currently.

Unlike UTG, WJG are solely focussed on property development which is suffering due to high interest rates that means no one wants to buy their developments. If WJG can pull through into a more benign interest environment then they are probably a steal at the moment - but too risky for me.
Posted at 25/7/2023 17:31 by maddox
Yes, £300m raised at 905p and the share price has recovered closing at 962p - so a nice 6.3% gain for subscribers - £4m of which was retail money. We now have a healthy £600m development pipeline, rising rents and some (at long last) Uni deals to look forward to.
Posted at 10/7/2023 06:56 by maddox
A highly positive Q2 trading update from Unite just published:

Richard Smith, Unite Students Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"Reservations for the 2023/24 academic year remain at record levels, with 98% of rooms now sold, reflecting strong demand from both students and universities and the attractiveness of our fixed-priced all-inclusive offer. This supports an improvement in our rental growth guidance to around 7% for the 2023/24 academic year. Our strong leasing performance will continue to support our property valuations as the market adjusts to an environment of higher interest rates."

The strong demand has lifted the value of the two property funds that UTG manages and partly ownes, these are:

>> USAF – Unite own 28.2% - like-for-like asset value increased 1.2% during the quarter; and

>> LSAV – Unite own 50% - like-for-like asset value increased 1.1% during the quarter.



The performance isn't being reflected in the share price as Financial Institutions move their money out of the UK stock market and into fixed rate investments; attracted by the rising interest rates. On Friday's close of 847p the prospective yield is 4.38% currently. Last Wednesday's UK Gilt auction priced the latest issue maturing in 2025 at 5.668% - the highest rate since 2007. So, yield seekers have a no risk alternative home for their funds. However, UTG offers growth and a growing yield which Gilts don't - so the attraction is short-term.

The high demand for student property, widening undersupply and attractive yield on development underpins a long-term growth trajectory for Unite.
Posted at 12/4/2023 09:44 by maddox
Highly positive Q1 trading update today:

Richard Smith, Unite Students Chief Executive Officer, commented:

" We continue to make strong progress with bookings for the 2023/24 academic year with 90% of rooms already sold, demonstrating the strength of student demand and the attractiveness of our fixed-priced all-inclusive offer. Reservations are significantly ahead of recent sales cycles, reflecting strong demand from both new and existing students as well as new nomination agreements with universities. This progress reinforces our confidence in delivering rental growth of 6-7% for the 2023/24 academic year. Rental growth also continues to support our property valuations as the market adjusts to a higher funding cost environment.
The supply of purpose-built student accommodation cannot keep pace with growing student demand at the same time as HMO landlords are leaving the sector. We are therefore tracking a number of new development opportunities at attractive returns, which we are uniquely positioned to deliver through our university relationships and development capability. "

Picking-out the key points:

>> Demand is out-stripping supply: the implication is full-utilisation can be anticipated looking at the forward bookings.

>> Pricing power: UTG is able to increase rents to mitigate inflation and interest rate rises. Despite the rises UTG is very competitively priced due to wider market rental price acceleration. Pricing power is extremely important for investors in an inflationary economic environment.

>> Development Pipeline: IMHO the pressure is mounting on Unis to resolve the growing accommodation crisis. This will provide the long-anticipated partnership opportunities for UTG. Something to keep an eye on.

Hopefully, with the development cost-pressures ameliorating we will see a further acceleration in the development pipeline - to meet the evident demand. Whilst pressures on yield cause property valuations to pause - new development and partnership deals are the likely pathway to growth.
Posted at 20/3/2023 08:44 by maddox
Just thought I'd point out as we are amid a banking crisis: Back in 2008/9 Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) was a relatively new and novel asset class. It then became the best performing real estate asset class through the Global Economic Crisis (GEC).

PBSA is in huge demand and undersupply so highly resilient and also has a key strength in being uncorrelated with the general economy. That is not to say that the share price will reflect this - the huge share price volatility UTG exhibits is in stark contrast to its resilient qualities. I've concluded that this more reflects its investors than UTG as a business.

In 2008/9 I was thus able to buy at that time at around 50% of Net Asset Value.
Posted at 04/3/2023 20:40 by maddox
I'd recommend any browsers to look at the UTG results webinar, lots of great background:



Despite the current prevailing market gloom there is a very reassuring positive note in this webinar. For a start the accompanying presentation is titled 'Positioned for Growth':



As mentioned the market demand is very supportive and UTG sees opportunity of growth across three areas:

>> Internal investment: Up-grading and segmenting the existing portfolio delivering a target 7% on investment;

>> Pipeline of new development: 2123 beds (committed) and 2740 beds (not yet committed) and with additional Uni partnerships; and

>> New Buy-to-Rent(BtR)initiative: A new pillar for growth catering to young professionals (more to research on this one).

Based on this UTG are guiding to delivering an 8-10% accounting return. I'd suggest that UTG are very confident of being able to achieve that based on the core opportunities. If they do well and manage to land a few additional Uni opportunities and I'm sure they'll be aiming to beat that.

A few other observations:

The Uni. of Manchester has appointed three professional services consultancies to consult on a major investment and development strategy for its student accommodation. Real Estate Advisors CBRE will be supported by law firm Pinsent Masons and corporate finance advisors QMPF will advise on finance. Seems like a fairly comprehensive strategic review. Incidentally, UTG has just refurbished three sites in Manchester tailoring them for different customer groups.

The BtR Sector looks attractive - Spareroom.co.uk CEO Matt Hutchinson is reporting that rents are rising faster than they've ever seen: 'we've been running Spareroom for nearly 20 years now. And we've never seen the rental market like it's been in the past 18 months. There's a sort of perfect storm of dwindling supply, incredible demand. And as a result, rents are going up and so paying record highs everywhere across the UK'. (BBCR4 Money Box 4Mar23) This probably explains UTG's new initiative in this area.

Readers of Chronic Investors need to be careful of their sloppy analysis. A highlight bullet point states that UTG's 2022 revenue has fallen on 2021. Correct but not fully explained - 2021 revenue included a £42m performance fee from their fund management activities - whereas rental revenue grew 15.6% y-o-y and adjusted earnings attributable to shareholders +48% and dividends also +48%.
Unite share price data is direct from the London Stock Exchange

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