LondonMetric buys five urban logistics warehouses, sells older one

The five newcomers have a blended net income yield of 5.0% which rises to 5.6% over the next five years.

Located in Cheltenham, Leyton, Weybridge, Peterborough and Haverhill, the new sheds have an average lease length of 16 years, with 67% of the income subject to contractual rental uplifts. They are currently occupied by the likes of Clipper Logistics, FedEx and Tesla.

The disposed regional asset in Doncaster was a 290,000 square foot warehouse let to Superdrug at a NIY of 6.2% for eight more years. It was acquired by LondonMetric in 2014 for £13m, at a NIY of 7.3% and has generated an ungeared internal rate of return of 10% per year.

Chief executive Andrew Jones said: "The investment market for logistics assets continues to enjoy strong structural support. We have therefore decided to monetise one of our oldest and shortest let regional assets to allow us to focus on growing our urban logistics portfolio, which offers greater certainty of occupation, income and future valuation growth.

"These new investments meet our objective of owning long let assets in strong locations that offer excellent potential for income growth."

The FTSE 250 group is due to report results for the year to 31 March on Wednesday 30 May, having in November posted a 12% jump in first-half net rental income to £44.5m and returned to profits.