Watkin Jones Share Discussion Threads

[glaws2] 06/3/2017 06:25

AdamB1978

Fresh is predicted to grow about 50% in 2017 but this is from a very low base in terms of revenue and profit. Student accommodation made up 90% of profits in 2016. They have not made predictions for PRS but again this is currently a small contributor.

However, bear in mind that number of beds does not equate directly with returns and they have strongly hinted that they expect growth in profits from this sector.

Jonwig can probably add further as he attended the AGM.

[adamb1978] 05/3/2017 11:32

Bought into WJG in early Jan at 118p so obviously very pleased with the performance so far. Quick question for holders: the number of student places delivered this year (and next) is going to be broadly flat on the 3819 last year, certainly not up materially. So the growth needs to come from the accommodation management and PRS business, but most of the narrative is around the main business. DOes anyone have estimates for the likely growth in the management and PRS businesses? Otherwise its difficult to see material progress on the top-line this year, or perhaps next.
Thanks
Adam

[jonwig] 04/3/2017 08:48

The FT looking forward to Wednesday's budget:

After the fanfare of February’s white paper on housing, most experts expect the Budget to focus its property-related energies on giving support to measures proposed in the long-term policy document.

One area favoured in the white paper was “build to rent” — new build houses built for long-term rental — the growing asset class supported by institutional investors. But advocates of the sector were dealt a blow last year when it failed to win an exemption from a 3 percentage point stamp duty surcharge on additional homes.

Lucian Cook, head of residential research at estate agent Savills, said a move on stamp duty for build to rent would reinforce the government’s newfound warmth for the sector. “It would be a boost for build to rent to know it is excluded from the surcharge.”



This sounds logical - if the government no longer supports the aspitation for everyone to own their own home, 3% stamp duty will hardly promote affordable rents.

[rivaldo] 02/3/2017 15:57

Good to see buying at 150p this afternoon.

[santangello] 01/3/2017 09:28

Nice fat dividend ploughed back in here this a.m....lovely.

[return_of_the_apeman] 01/3/2017 08:59

Might close above 1.50 today :)

[rivaldo] 28/2/2017 08:25

Nice feature on why an institutional investor has been buying WJG...



"27 Feb 2017

Top investor James Henderson, whose mandates include the £859 million Law Debenture Investment Trust, has revealed the UK small cap he’s been buying more of.

The stock in question is Watkin Jones, which is a builder of student accommodation.

Henderson commented that he has been buying more of the shares since the company announced its latest results.

The veteran investor commented that he is ‘encouraged by the progress they are making, particularly on forward selling their student accomodation, providing greater visibility on cashflow.’

By forward selling Henderson means that Watkin Jones is able to sell the properties it builds before they are completed, that is positive for the cashflows of the company as it means they are effectively receiving payment in advance, and so can predict how much revenue they will have at a given time.

As an investor in the hunt for dividends, this allows Henderson to see how much cash the business is likely to generate in future."

[rivaldo] 24/2/2017 07:40

Chris Boxall of Fundamental Asset Management says WJG are "way, way too cheap", and I for one agree:

[shaker44] 24/2/2017 00:46

Never let the facts get in the way of a Good story eh?!!

[orange1] 23/2/2017 22:55

Careful how you interpret statistics. This is what the Office for National Statistics says:

Long-term international student migration has a marked seasonal pattern with a large proportion of people immigrating to study in the July to September quarter. Particularly for those who will start the academic year in September, changes in immigration are more likely to be reflected in the YE September reporting year. It is too early to tell if this is an indication of an emerging long-term trend of the IPS student data as it is based on one quarter’s data and a small increase was seen in the number of study visas issued to non-EU citizens [141,000 up 2%]. Therefore we will continue to monitor the trends and compare against other sources such as university admissions data.

[opodio] 23/2/2017 22:16

hxxp://news.sky.com/story/why-the-net-migration-drop-is-all-about-students-and-why-it-could-cause-pm-a-headache-10778630


International Student Numbers plunge

[quepassa] 22/2/2017 16:12

Mark Watkin Jones - CEO of WJG- and Philip Byrom CFO will be giving an investor presentation on 29th March at the Equity Development Investor Forum, taking place London EC2 from 5pm.

www.equitydevelopment.co.uk


ALL IMO. DYOR.
QP

[spellbrook] 20/2/2017 15:37

Watkin Jones
2 hrs ·

Exciting new development coming soon in Bangor, Gwynedd!

This extremely popular location will sell out fast. Located close to Hirael Bay, Plas Y Coed is a stunning forthcoming development featuring 12 apartments set within a beautiful Grade 2 listed building. It also offers a number of 1, 2 and 3 bedroom starter homes.

Keep your eyes peeled for released plots!

[return_of_the_apeman] 17/2/2017 16:07

Hi Jonwig,

Thanks for taking the time to get back to us - everything sounds very encouraging as always.

[cellars] 17/2/2017 15:06

thanks Jonwig for both your posts

[jonwig] 17/2/2017 09:09

This from the FT. With £200m to spend, some of it might come our way?

The UK student accommodation developer Unite Students has said it is selling 13 properties to a Brookfield-managed fund for £295m.

It said that the sale would give it money to fund further growth in its high-quality development pipeline – focused on mid to high ranked university properties with secure long-term growth prospects.

The 13 properties were located in Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool and York and were sold “in line with” book value. The deal is expected to be completed in the second quarter of this year.

The FTSE 250-listed company is planning to recycle up to £200m of its assets this year “to take advantage of the ongoing strength in the investment market for well let student accommodation”. Unite’s share of the 13 properties being sold amounts to £102m.

[glaws2] 17/2/2017 09:09

Thanks for the feedback Jonwig

[jonwig] 17/2/2017 09:07

The AGM yesterday lasted just one hour. There were only about five investors present (one whom I knew from years back, Mark who posts occasionally on ADVFN as marben100), plus the four directors and some suits.

You tend to get big attendance at small company meetings when something's wrong, so that was a pretty good sign! The welcome was very open and friendly and there was plenty of opportunity for questions.

I'll try to take their points in turn:

• Chairman's opening statement had nothing new to add to the results, but he gave a quietly confident view of the future. The company's approach is cautious and risk-averse, which is a bit unusual in the sector.

• PBSA: the results presentation shows some projections up to 2020. I didn't ask more about the pipeline, as that seems far enough. Visibility is quite impressive.

• PRS: they are approaching this very cautiously until they have more experience of the sector. There are also political uncertainties (recent White paper). I wouldn't expect growth to be rapid for the next few years. Described as an 'evolving market'.
Their first project is forward sold for completion this year. Three more are going through process.

• Conversion between PBSA and PRS buildings. Their PRS plans appear to have an element of 'communal facilities', but earlier PBSA couldn't easily be converted. Maybe new ones could. Location is important though: students need to be near to campus, home rental near to roads, rail.

• Supply bottlenecks, labour shortages, materials inflation in the construction sector. They can mitigate this as they can do forward pricing and have a regular and trusted set of suppliers.

• They will own one PBSA, against the grain of their usual model. This may/may not be sold in the future.
JVs (eg. Lacuna in Belfast) is dissolved after sale on a 50:50 basis. I'd assumed Lacuna would take ownership, apparently not.
Housebuilding is a very small part of the business but does have higher margins.

Given their non-speculative approach, my intention is to hold these for some time: dividends of 6.3p, 6.6p for 2017, 2018 (broker forecasts) are quite satisfactory!

[the big fella] 16/2/2017 10:02

Alas I will not be able to make that as I am enjoying some sunshine in the South of France :)

[return_of_the_apeman] 16/2/2017 09:59

AGM today :-)

[santangello] 16/2/2017 01:18

....great minds Big Fella...but only 11k for me :(

[the big fella] 15/2/2017 10:10

Just helped myself to another 12k in the ISA thanks to the fall.

[shaker44] 15/2/2017 03:07

You are right of course. That would be foolish. But my point was if they have no intention to sell for a further 12 months making that clear would benefit all. As in the prospectus. And if the answer is evasive then expect some selling off!

[shaker44] 15/2/2017 03:07

You are right of course. That would be foolish. But my point was if they have no intention to sell for a further 12 months making that clear would benefit all. As in the prospectus. And if the answer is evasive then expect some selling off!

[jg88721] 14/2/2017 18:41

not sure I agree, Shaker, with respect. If they were planning to do a reasonably chunky sell-off, I doubt they would warn people in advance (and see the share price marked down in anticipation!)