This trust is different to a bricks and mortar property fund and is freely traded on the London stock exchange. The recent market downturn has hit the share price of the trust and it is currently trading on a near 10% discount. The trust owns about 8% in direct property in the UK, the balance is in shares of property companies. 60% is in Europe and 32% in the UK.
In Europe they have 46% in Germany/Austria, 19% in France and 13% in Sweden. Areas like logistics, residential and healthcare have worked well for the trust in this downturn. They have minimal exposure to hotels but where they do this is via long leases which has been a negative for the trust. The other area of weakness has been student accommodation which remains challenged until the lockdown is lifted.
The trust has delivered a growing income stream over the last ten years and they would hope to continue this but have seen the likes of Land Securities cancel their dividend payment. They believe moving forward with low interest rates the focus on income will increase and this fund can deliver a rising income moving forward….read more