UOB Kay Hian analysts Nicole Ho and Jonathan Koh are maintaining their “buy” recommendation for Elite Commercial REIT, a Singaporean company with commercial and real-estate assets in the UK, with a target price of £0.88 ($1.57), in a report released on July 30.
Elite Commercial REIT on July 23 posted 1H20 DPU at 1.95 pence, which exceeded its IPO forecast by 1%. Similarly, Elite’s profit after tax at £3.88 million was 7% greater than predicted despite COVID-19.
Despite the pandemic-induced lockdown, Elite’s JobCentre Plus Centres remained completely operational during lockdown in England. Its services actually rose in importance as a result of COVID-19 due to the UK government’s efforts to curb unemployment, which they are doing so by using Elite’s JobCentre Plus to recruit job coaches.
Elite’s 97 properties also have an occupancy rate of 100%, with their primary occupant being the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), and they have already collected 99.8% of the rents for the next three months.
Ho and Koh are also positive on the REIT due to its “healthy balance sheet with prudent capital structure”. Elite Commercial REIT’s aggravate leverage is low at 32.6%, with a healthy interest coverage at 7.4x. It also has no refinancing requirements until 2024.
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Elite also did not get any of their leases terminated, but instead they have secured waivers of extension of break options for two properties, which improves their income visibility.
As at 3.55pm, units at Elite Commercial REIT were changing hands at 1.5 cents lower, or 2.19% down, at £0.67.
