Assura makes solid progress on investments and acquisitions

Primary care property investor and developer Assura updated the market on its trading for the first quarter to 30 June on Thursday, reporting that it continued to make progress in the first quarter, increasing the size of the pipeline by £73m to £225m.

The FTSE 250 firm said that was made up of acquisitions of £162m and £63m of developments.

In addition to growing the pipeline, Assura completed the acquisition of six medical centres and two developments at a combined cost of £23m.

The additions had a combined passing rent of £1.2m, and a weighted average unexpired lease length of 19.9 years.

Assura said it now owned 525 medical centres with a total annualised rent roll of £92.3m, up from £91m at the end of March, with growth in the financial year to date driven primarily by acquisitions.

In the period, the company agreed an additional £100m unsecured revolving facility with Barclays Bank and HSBC on the same terms as the existing facility, taking its overall revolving facilities to £400m.

As at 30 June, the company said its gross debt stood at £510m, with undrawn facilities of £250m.

“We have continued to deploy capital in the first quarter and identify new opportunities to grow the pipeline which can all be funded from current facilities,” said Assura chief executive officer Jonathan Murphy.

“We remain confident in the outlook for the year.”