Cautiously optimistic about the future, that seems to be the view of Hammerson’s (LSE: HMSO) management, which today released a trading statement for the first half of 2016.
For the six months to the end of June, the company reported a pre-tax result of £163m excluding valuation changes. For the same period last year, the group reported a pre-tax profit of £326m after benefitting from a large rise in the value of its property portfolio.
Hammerson didn’t profit from the same kind of valuation uplift again this year.
Net rental income for the first half was £168m, up 5% year-on-year. For the first half as a whole, the company secured £12.6m in new rental income from leasing activity, up 19% year-on-year. And in the key post-Brexit period, the company reports that it signed 20 leases on its properties ahead of estimated rental values, signalling that demand for property rental remains robust in post-Brexit Britain.
This robust performance led chief executive David Atkins to declare that he and the rest of the management team at Hammerson have “confidence in the resilience of our business model, which will underpin our ability to deliver robust income returns during and beyond this period of political and economic uncertainty in the UK.”
At 550p, shares in Hammerson are trading at near 25% discount to the company’s estimated net asset value per share of 727p. Shares in Hammerson currently support a dividend yield of 4.1%.
The end of the sandwich
Cranswick’s (LSE: CWK) management also appears to be optimistic about the future despite Brexit. The company today reported a 5% increase in underlying revenue for the three months to 30 June compared to the year-ago period. Volumes sold increased by 12% as the benefit of lower input prices continue to be passed on to the group’s customers. The company also announced today that it has agreed to sell its sandwich business, The Sandwich Factory Holdings Limited, to Greencore plc for £15m. In the year to 31 March 2016, the sandwich business generated revenues of £54m.
Unfortunately, Cranswick already trades at what could be called a premium valuation of 19.9 times forward earnings. City analysts expect the company’s earnings per share to grow by 11% this year and by 6% for the year ending 31 March 2018. Shares in Cranswick currently support a dividend yield of 1.8%. Despite the company’s steady growth, Cranswick’s valuation may be too rich for some investors.
Cautious on post-Brexit Britain
HICL Infrastructure (LSE: HICL) is cautious about its outlook following Brexit. In a trading update released to the market today, management noted that the company’s investment adviser is “proceeding cautiously” when evaluating potential new investments in light of the EU referendum. That said, HICL is still finding opportunities and made three new investments and an incremental investment in the period from 1 April to 24 July for a total of £29m.
According to City forecasts, shares in HICL currently trade at a forward P/E of 32 and support a dividend yield of 4.5%. As a dividend play, it looks as if HICL remains an attractive proposition.
