We own, manage and develop prime logistics real estate in the UK

We are committed to delivering high-quality and sustainable logistics buildings for our customers and attractive long-term returns for shareholders.

We do this by investing in and actively managing existing logistics buildings, developing new logistics assets and securing land suitable for logistics development. We focus on large, well-located, modern and sustainable buildings, let to high-quality customers on long-term leases. We seek to capture the significant opportunity in this sub-sector, driven by the strong occupier demand and limited supply of big boxes.

A strategy underpinned by capital discipline and sustainability

In order to achieve our vision, we have a clear and compelling strategy to capture the opportunities our market presents. Underpinned by a disciplined approach to capital allocation, our strategy is aligned with positive long-term structural drivers and has three  mutually reinforcing aspects (see below), enabling it to deliver sustainable income and capital growth, while ensuring we meet our wider environmental and social responsibilities.

1. High-quality assets attracting world-leading companies

Our logistics assets are critical to the supply chains of some of the world’s leading companies. We continue to craft a portfolio that will perform well through the economic cycle, providing resilient long-term income even during challenging times. We weight our customer exposure to defensive and high-growth sectors.

2. Direct and active management

We actively and directly manage our existing property portfolio, developing long-term relationships with our customers, ensuring their needs are met while identifying and realising opportunities to add value. We also monitor the broader market for opportunities where we can acquire assets and add value through active asset management. By constantly evaluating and managing the portfolio, we aim to grow value and generate secure and increasing income. When we believe an asset has reached its full potential within our ownership, we look to crystallise this value through disposals, recycling capital into higher returning development and investment opportunities.

3. Insight driven development and innovation

We create value through the Group’s acquisition of the development site at Littlebrook, Dartford, and the capital-efficient acquisition of Tritax Symmetry, we have access to the UK’s largest land bank for the development of logistics assets. The customer insights developed from our existing investment portfolio and long-established successful track record inform the development process, ensuring we tailor the development pipeline to meet demand at an attractive 6-8% yield on cost. Most of the Group’s development will be undertaken on a demand-driven pre-let basis, significantly de-risking the process and ensuring we only deploy significant amounts of the Group’s capital when we are confident that the returns are appropriate and attractive to our shareholders.

Our Littlebrook, Dartford site is an example of our development strategy in action. The following short video explains how this has driven value for our shareholders: 

We make money through the rent we receive from our tenants and from profits associated with our portfolio. 

With a low and transparent cost base, we recycle capital, selling assets which we believe have delivered their full potential in our ownership and redeploying the proceeds into higher returning opportunities. There are three key elements to our approach to creating value for our stakeholders:

1. Create high-quality buildings for our customers

We create high-quality buildings that play a central role in supporting our customers businesses and growth ambitions.

2. Generating long-term income and capital growth for our shareholders

We generate attractive long-term income and capital growth for our shareholders. In 2020, we paid dividends totalling 6.40 pence per share and generated a total accounting return of 19.9%.

3. Supporting our local communities and society

Our buildings benefit local communities and society more generally. They have strong sustainability credentials, with 87% having an EPC rating of C or above and new buildings being developed to net zero carbon, helping to minimise impact on their environments. They also often support significant employment in their local areas.

We believe that the following attributes differentiate our approach and underpin our ability to maximise on the opportunities that our market offers, to deliver value for all our stakeholders.

Key Performance Indicators

Our objective is to deliver attractive, low-risk returns to shareholders, by executing the Group’s Investment Policy and operational strategy. We track our progress against eight financial and non-financial Key Performance Indicators, on which we report each year.