17 April
2020
Prior to publication, the information
contained within this announcement was deemed by the Company to
constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse
Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR"). With the publication of this
announcement, this information is now considered to be in the
public domain.
Panther Securities
PLC
(the “Company” or
the “Group”)
COVID-19 and
dividend update
The Company today provides an update on the impact of the
evolving global COVID-19 pandemic on the Group’s business.
In the worst health crisis of a generation our thoughts are with
those affected both personally or financially due to the
consequences of the pandemic or the actions taken to protect
us.
We anticipate that we will announce our results for the year
ended 31 December 2019 in early
May. This will have more detail on the current situation as
well as the usual review of the 2019 year.
Our approach
In these circumstances we are approaching requests from tenants
for rental relief on a case by case basis. In general, we have been
supportive to our tenants, particularly the smaller and independent
traders that are less resilient to the enforced closures.
With those who have bigger shoulders than us we have applied more
pressure to continue to have them honour their obligations.
However, in all instances we believe that our approach is sensible
and for the best long-term interest of our shareholders. As
well as monitoring income, we have, where possible, reduced our
overheads and kept good communication with our stakeholders,
including our lenders.
Our income during the pandemic
lockdown
We have a large spread of tenancies and a robust income stream,
which the Directors believe is much stronger than other comparable
property investment businesses of our market size, as we favour
property investments of a secondary nature, which are higher
yielding and generally multi-let.
We estimate that approximately 41% of our rental income comes
from businesses that have not been forced to close or been
recommended to close under government guidelines. The annual income
from these businesses is approximately £5.6m and would be enough to
cover our interest obligations to our lenders of approximately
£4.1m and most of our overheads. We also took advantage of
the market in 2018 by selling £41m of property, realising a profit
of £11m. We substantially de-geared the Group’s balance sheet
at that time which left us with bank facilities that we were able
to re-draw and also cash funds. We currently have over £12.5m of
free cash in our current account to utilise on top of any potential
income.
Given our cash funds, potential income and the significant
quantum of uncharged properties, the Directors believe that the
Group has sufficient liquid resources to continue trading for at
least a further 21 months and probably even longer. This is
on a “worst case” basis, where the lockdown is maintained at the
current level of restrictions over the whole of that period.
Future earnings
The Directors believe that it is too early to tell what impact
the pandemic virus will have on our results for the year ending
31 December 2020, but of course it
will not have a positive effect.
Dividend
We are very proud of our dividend track record and our Chairman
believes that we have a 37-year track record of never reducing or
missing a dividend. As such it is the Directors’ current
intention to pay a further 6p per share dividend to our loyal
shareholders for the year ended 31 December 2019. We have
significant cash reserves and distributable reserves to justify
this dividend.
Loan renewal
Mainly earned by our actions over successive financial
downturns, we are fortunate to have lenders who have been very
supportive to date, as evidenced by our ability to draw down.
We have recently drawn £4m of our unutilised bank facility and our
lenders have also provided access to a further £1.5m of restricted
funds (restricted to approved property purchases). This £5.5m
is included in the available cash balances mentioned above.
We have had positive discussions with our lenders regarding our
loan renewal and the Directors are confident that we will conclude
negotiations later in the year after the lockdown ends or, if this
is not possible, they believe that the lenders will be amenable to
a short term extension. Our current loan matures in
April 2021 so we do have time on our
side.
Andrew
Perloff, Chairman, said:
"Even in these extremely difficult
times we are confident our Group will come through and continue to
thrive over the years ahead."
For further information:
|
|
Panther Securities plc: |
Tel: 01707 667
300 |
Andrew Perloff/ Simon Peters |
|
Allenby Capital Limited (Nomad
and Joint Broker) |
Tel: 020 3328
5656 |
David Worlidge/ Alex Brearley |
|