LondonMetric shakes up portfolio, exits non-core assets

Real estate firm LondonMetric has raised £31m from selling seven properties and acquired six more assets for £45m, the company announced on Thursday.

The divested portfolio comprises an Asda store and two car showrooms in Scotland, a retail park in Ipswich, a B&M store in Stourbridge, a Travelodge hotel and a pub – £18.3m of which were assets taken over in the merger with LXi REIT which completed in March.

The disposals generated a net initial yield (NIY) of 7.0% and a 3% profit over prevailing book values.

Separately, the company announced the acquisition of six reversionary urban warehouse assets across England and Wales, reflecting a NIY of 6.1% and a reversionary yield of 6.6%.

"We are delighted to have exited these non-core assets and reinvested the proceeds into much higher quality assets, which offer superior rental growth potential," said chief executive Andrew Jones.

"We are continually looking to upgrade the quality of our portfolio and exit lower growth assets outside of our core sectors or those that do not meet our return criteria. As such, we expect to announce further disposals shortly."

The stock was up 0.3% at 199.2p by 0849 BST.