Watkin Jones Share Discussion Threads

[its the oxman] 18/10/2019 09:37

Bit of pressure building for it to pop higher.

[rivaldo] 18/10/2019 09:21

New recent highs now....

[its the oxman] 18/10/2019 08:42

Be nice to make progress and see 240p here.

[rivaldo] 16/10/2019 14:31

Mark Watson-Mitchell has updated re WJG in his latest small cap round-up and has a 300p target:

"Watkin Jones Group (LON:WJG)

This student flats and build-to-rent developer has clearly stated that, just one week into its current new year, it is forward sold for all its planned developments for 2020.

Furthermore, its pipeline for 2021 and further ahead, has strengthened.

This group is well placed for medium-term growth in revenues and profits.

Brokers Peel Hunt rate the shares, now 227.5p, as a Buy, looking for 265p.

My mid-May piece was at 225p with a Price Target of 300p – ok so I am more bullish, but confident."

[cordwainer] 14/10/2019 20:47

Maybe its just lack of awareness i.e. AIM stock instead of main index (albeit AIM100) and listed 3.5 years ago not that long for a property stock. Although market cap is certainly enough for smallcap index if not FT250.

[its the oxman] 13/10/2019 15:41

Thought we might of pushed higher in line with some other property plays.

[rivaldo] 11/10/2019 11:12

Cheers Skinny - good to see a 300p price target for the first time.

Also tipped here:



"Dig this

I reckon Watkin Jones (LSE: WJG) is another great ISA pick for income hunters today.

It�s true that a 3.6% yield for the year to September 2020 sits some way below those of ContourGlobal, though this figure still smashes the rate of inflation in the UK right now. Besides, the rate at which the student accommodation provider has already hiked annual dividends in recent times (up 90% in the three years to 2018) still makes it worth sitting up to take notice of.

Watkin Jones is benefitting from booming enrolment in UK universities from both homegrown and overseas students, and the subsequent shortage of available accommodation for these students. The business has a bulging development pipeline (of 9,000 beds through to fiscal 2022) to exploit this fertile environment to the fullest. And so Watkin Jones (which saw adjusted pre-tax profits rise leap 10% in the first half of fiscal 2019) is in great shape to keep delivering brilliant returns up to the end of the 2020s at least."

[equitydev] 04/10/2019 09:36

"Full house of property deals"

Quality businesses have many attractions. Not least the ability to expand profitably, even during choppy seas such as today. Enter Watkin Jones, a leading UK developer & manager of large scale, multi occupancy accommodation, focusing on purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) and residential build to rent (BtR).

Yesterday the company announced a slew of property deals and pipeline updates, involving 2,532 PBSA beds, 431 BtR units and 88 residential appts. Here UK demand for new build rental properties remains robust, reflecting a chronic under supply, high employment, increasing real wages and elevated house prices.

What’s more, institutional capital continues to flood into these two sectors, thanks to the sustainable, inflation beating returns - particularly when compared to the >$15 trillion of negative yielding sovereign / investment grade debt.

At 221p, the stock trades at a modest 13.8x PER (or 11.9x ex cash), whilst paying a healthy 3.6% dividend yield. Elsewhere, the firm remains on track to hit our adjusted FY19 PBT and EPS estimates of £51.0m and 16p respectively on revenues of £390m, closing Sept’19 with net cash of £90.4m (worth 35.4p/share). Likewise we make no change to the 250p/share SOTP valuation.

hxxps://www.equitydevelopment.co.uk/company/?company=Watkin+Jones&c=yUTO

[rivaldo] 04/10/2019 06:43

Bullish analyst commentary - note the huge forward visibility:



"Peel Hunt: Watkin Jones valuation too low

The valuation is too low for property developer Watkin Jones (WJG), which is well placed to deliver growth in an asset class that remains healthy, says Peel Hunt.

Analyst Gavin Jago retained his ‘buy’ recommendation and target price of 265p after the group announced a number of forward sales, planning permissions, and new sites secured in two core sectors of student accommodation and build-to-rent. The shares were trading at 221p yesterday.

‘Only one week into the new financial year and the group is fully forward sold for all planned developments for 2020,’ he said. ‘The pipeline for 2021 and beyond has also strengthened.’

Jago added that the market for both assets remained ‘healthy’ and the group was ‘very well placed to deliver growth in both over the medium term’.

‘The multiples are too low for a business with such strong visibility on revenues and cashflow, healthy end markets and an ungeared balance sheet,’ he said."

[effortless cool] 03/10/2019 16:20

Unfortunately, beating the market can still leave you considerably poorer, at the moment.

[cordwainer] 03/10/2019 16:16

Good chance the share price will beat the market with these positive updates.

[rivaldo] 03/10/2019 07:13

Excellent transactions update issued today, just after the year end, with lots of successful deals/completions/approvals.

With the Capital Markets Day set to spread the word on 5th November, today's update hopefully sets the tone nicely for the trading update on the same day:



" Summary:

-- Forward fund of 762 unit mixed PBSA and Build to Rent development in Sheffield
-- Sale of 400 student beds across two schemes in Chester
-- Agreements for the development of 638 beds across two schemes in Glasgow and Edinburgh
-- Forward fund of two Build to Rent schemes, comprising 325 units, in Sutton and Bournemouth
-- Forward sale of a 35 apartment residential development in Chester

-- Further development of the PBSA pipeline with new sites secured in Edinburgh and Bath and planning obtained for the Group's site in Bristol"

[rivaldo] 27/9/2019 12:14

Jefferies have today raised their target price to 279p (from 253p) and say Buy:

[rivaldo] 26/9/2019 13:24

CA Ventures, a "US property investment giant", are investing £1billion into the UK’s student residential market - WJG are of course their development partner on the Glasgow scheme - having "identified a shortfall in the supply of accommodation across the country":



"CA Ventures said estate agency Knight Frank’s 15% projected increase in student numbers and the country’s under-supply of suitable accommodation was the key factor in the group’s decision to launch into the UK.

Carlo Matta, head of the group’s European operation, said there was a “significant opportunity” in the UK, Ireland and continental Europe to deliver modern, high quality student living arrangements.

“Limited supply, increasing obsolescence of older product and growing university enrolment has created a very favourable supply and demand dynamic.

“Across commercial real estate product types, we feel that student accommodation offers some of the best risk-adjusted returns given the ability to satisfy demand from both domestic and international students,” Matta added."

[rivaldo] 24/9/2019 15:29

Downing's Monthly Income Fund has today issued its newsletter covering August. WJG is 4.14% of its portfolio, and Downing have this to say:

"Watkin Jones, a developer and constructor of multi-occupancy residential property assets, saw its share price tick up during the period on no significant news. In a trading update issued at the end of July, management stated that it continued to see positive momentum across all key areas of the business. The final quarter of the financial year is typically a busy period in terms of forward sale activity, and this is expected to be the case again this year. Given the defensive nature of the business we believe the shares offer good value at these levels."

[skinny] 20/9/2019 09:03

Its as a result of the opening auction (all SETS stocks).

There are more comprehensive descriptions, but is as good as any.


Also from this site :- .

[alotto] 20/9/2019 08:59

Skinny what's an uncrossing trade? I Google but I didn't understand much. Is it a buy or sell trade?

[skinny] 20/9/2019 08:10

An interesting uncrossing trade of 11 shares @235p this morning.

[tanneg] 17/9/2019 17:54

More good news

"Housing for 345 students is set to be built in St Paul’s after a developer whose plans were rejected by Bristol City council appealed the decision and won.

The Watkins Jones Group applied to turn a warehouse space, two car parks, a commercial printers and an art and dance studio next to Wilder Street into three student blocks stretching from three to six-storeys high.

Its proposals were rejected by a Bristol City Council planning committee over fears that the development would open the “floodgates221; to students in the area close to Stokes Croft.

The Watkins Jones Group appealed the decision made by elected councillors in September 2018."

Following the appeal, a government planning inspector ruled in the developer’s favour.

[quepassa] 17/9/2019 09:03

IMPORTANT FULL-PAGE ARTICLE IN YESTERDAY's FT, PAGE 23.


Feature Headed:-

FT BIG READ.UK UNIVERSITIES

Sub-headed

The explosion in full-time higher education over the past 20 years sparked a boom in student accommodation in some post-industrial cities. But there are signs that the market is becoming oversupplied

Captioned

A housing bubble set to burst?






Important reading for sector followers.


ALL IMO. DYOR.
QP

[rivaldo] 15/9/2019 23:22

More good news, and a management contract as well on completion:



"Approval for major student and residential scheme in Leicester’s Waterside regeneration area

13th September 2019

Plans for a new student accommodation scheme and build to rent development in Leicester’s Waterside regeneration area have been given the green light by the City Council.

The 0.87 hectare former industrial site consists of two plots on All Saints Road, leading on to Bath Lane and bounded by Jarvis Steet, with Alexander Street cutting down the middle of the site.

The development is to consist of 462 student bedrooms and 184 residential apartments featuring 31 studios, 101 one bed and 52 two bed flats. 100 sqm of flexible commercial space would also be provided as well as ground level car parking.

The scheme is anticipated to be complete by 2021.

The approved plans from Watkin Jones Group follow the completion of the firm’s close-by Merlin Heights student scheme, completed in 2016, which acts as phase one of the firm’s overall development of the area, while this newly approved development is to be constructed as phases two and three.

The student aspect of the scheme is to be managed by Fresh Student Living, part of the Watkins Jones Group, while the build to rent aspect would be managed by Five Nine Living, also part of Watkins Jones Group."

[its the oxman] 13/9/2019 14:47

Break of 230p soon

[rivaldo] 13/9/2019 14:03

Mark Watson-Mitchell has a 300p target:



"Watkin Jones (LON:WJG) – the developer and constructor of multi-occupancy residential properties for the student accommodation and ‘build to rent’ sectors, will be holding an investors and analysts visit around its recently completed Stratford student property development on Tuesday 5 November.

Obviously, the group will be giving various presentations on that day, but more importantly it will then also be announcing its trading update for the year to the end of this month.

I rate this group highly and it is in a strong growth phase. Its shares, now only 216p, have been a pathetic performer since my mid-May profile at 225p. However, I maintain my 300p target price."

[effortless cool] 11/9/2019 09:34

Good and bad news, perhaps, since CA Ventures sounds like a potential new competitor.

Of course, it also sounds like a potential buyer of WJG. What better way to quickly establish "our footprint in the UK".