Palace Capital post interim results

Palace Capital plc, the Main Market listed property investment company collected 82% of all rents due on and since the September quarter day, a higher percentage than at the equivalent stage in the previous two quarters with December monthly payments still to come when collection is expected to exceed 90%.

Palace Capital also has a solid balance sheet with cash reserves and immediately available facilities of £26.3 million as at 30 September 2020, to handle any unforeseen circumstances and to take advantage of potential opportunities in the short to medium term.

Neil Sinclair, Chief Executive of Palace Capital said:

“Our strength in the regional office and industrial sectors, reflected in the quality of our occupier base, has enabled us to maintain high levels of rent collection across the period, despite the ongoing Covid-19 headwinds. The resilience in the income collection and the successful active portfolio management are testament to our team’s experience and hard work during an extremely challenging half year period.

“While the market continues to be relatively uncertain due to the Covid-19 pandemic and with the Brexit deadline also close, we remain confident that the outlook for the UK regions is a positive one; the supply of good quality, well located office assets remains constrained and our portfolio is therefore very well placed, with additional value identified and unlocked as we progress our redevelopment and refurbishment programmes.”

Stanley Davis, Chairman of Palace Capital said:

“Our financial year commenced one week after lockdown, therefore the pandemic and its impact will have a clear bearing on our results for this year. However, our well-located portfolio has shown its strength during this uncertain time and is well positioned to benefit from the trends we are seeing emerge from the pandemic, including relocation to the regions.

“In the short term we will continue to deploy our strategy of maintaining maximum liquidity, ensuring strong rent collection and pursuing the disposal of non-core assets. At the same time, the recent news of a potential vaccination programme getting underway by the end of this year or early next year provides some welcome hope that we may be moving toward the end of this Covid related uncertainty. We are preparing ourselves for the post Covid-19 era and the economic recovery, so that we can take advantage of the investment opportunities that we believe will emerge and progress our total return strategy.”