Sunday share tips: Tritax Big Box REIT, Victoria

Tritax Big Box REIT is well-placed to capitalise on the trend towards more centralised logistics in the retail sector.

The FTSE-250 listed outfit owns and develops the huge and strategically-placed distribution centres which big chains such as Sainsbury´s and Argos are increasingly using to gain a cost advantage in the logistical battle with their rivals.

Since floating on the stockmarket, the shares have done handsomely, rising from 100p to 131.5p and paying out some generous dividends along the way.

Now Tritax is asking shareholders for another £100m in cash to continue growing and the fundraising, which closes on Thursday, is worth a closer look.

It is the only-listed operator in the UK in the highly-specialised big-box market, running 25 mega-properties in its portfolio with several more in the pipeline.

Competition for new sites is increasingly tough and prices have risen substantially.

Nonetheless, the company´s bosses have been working in the sector for years and are well-connected, often allowing them to buy sites before they come to the market and hence at lower rates.

Demand for big boxes continues to grow and the firm has only 10% of the market so there is plenty of room for growth with the dividend payout expected to continue growing.

"Existing shareholders should hold. New investors may find the fundraising offers a good opportunity to buy," says the Mail on Sunday´s Midas column.

Victoria has seen its shares rocket after embarking on a debt-fuelled acquisition spree in the last two years that is thought to have led to a more-than-doubling of its sales in its last full fiscal year.

There is nothing inherently wrong with debt-financed acquistions, the Telegraph´s Questor team admits; but at 18 times´ forecast earnings shareholders in the AIM-listed carpetmarket may be failing to price in any of the risks in the company, the tipster added.

In just two years, the company shelled out up to £135m hoovering up rivals such as Westex, Abingdon, Whitestone Weavers, Quest and Interfloor.

The firm also paid out a special dividend of £21m financed by debt.

That last acquistion, of Interfloor, pushed its net debt to £81m at the end of October 2015, versus £1.5m in March 2014.

A lease-back operation on some property has also left the company with £14.5m in lease commitments.

Management is confident that its cash generation will allow it to cut the pile of debt to below £70m by the end of March.

Nevertheless, risks remain, so Questor recommends investors 'sell'.