Roadside Real Estate has “immediate” £100m pipeline of targets
Roadside Real Estate has an “extensive immediate £100m” pipeline of targets, as the group looks to scale its roadside property business.
Bolstered by capital provided by its joint venture with Meadow Partners, the group has also extended its medium-term target pipeline by an additional £150m to £250m.
This comes as the group –formerly Barkby – publishes its final results for the 15-month period ending 30 September 2023, following a year in which it refocused its strategy and progressed its disposal programme.
The group’s highlights include the construction and retention of roadside assets at Wellingborough and Maldon.
The Wellingborough asset was valued at £3.9m at period end and has contracted rent of £237,000 per annum from tenants including Greggs, Formula One Autocentres, City Plumbing Supplies, and Brewers Decorating Centres. Meanwhile, the Maldon asset was valued at £4.8m at period end and has a contracted rent of £280,000 per annum from tenants Costa Coffee, Formula One Autocentres, Toolstation, and CEF.
Following the period end, Roadside Real Estate has also acquired an additional three sites via its joint venture with Meadow in Stoke-on-Trent, Gosport, and Coventry. The group contributed 3% of the acquisition costs in line with the joint venture agreement, and will earn ongoing asset management fees as well as its share of rental income.
The group has also made a number of disposals of its non-real estate businesses and investments. This included the sale of Workshop Coffee to its management team for £480,000 in July 2023 and the winding-down of Centurian Automative in January 2023.
Barkby Pubs also reduced its operations during the period, with the disposal of one freehold and lease surrenders agreed with the landlords of two other pubs. Post year-end, two more leasehold sites have been sold and the group anticipates that its remaining four pubs will be sold in due course.
Charles Dickson, executive chair of Roadside, said: “We have made significant progress in realigning our business to focus on creating an exciting £250m portfolio of roadside real estate assets under management in desirable locations that cater to the needs of local communities and businesses.
“Much of our immediate £100m target asset pipeline is under negotiation, and we have an exciting roster of prospective tenants keen to occupy our planned acquisition sites, which will feature a combination of drive-thru, foodvenience, local logistics, trade counters and electric vehicle charging stations.
“We were especially pleased to complete the development of two wholly owned sites in Wellingborough and Maldon, marking the first significant milestones in the implementation of our strategy.
“By the end of the 2024 calendar year we expect to have deployed substantially all of the £100m capital allocation agreed with Meadow, rapidly assembling an institutional quality portfolio, increasing the company’s management and development fee earnings.”