Tritax looks to ‘near adjacencies’ after ‘transformational’ first half

Tritax Big Box REIT is exploring power and data centre opportunities after a “transformational” first half of 2024. The industrial REIT posted pretax profit and revenue growth in the six months ended 30 June, with its acquisition of UK Commercial Property REIT in May this year helping boost the value of its portfolio by 27.2% to £6.4bn. Chairman Aubrey Adams said: “This has been a transformational half-year for Tritax Big Box. The completion of the UKCM transaction and increased investor optimism in the logistics real estate sector provide the company with further opportunities.” Tritax’s pretax profit almost doubled in the first six months of the year to £190.2m, up from £102.4m. Net rental income increased to £127.2m from £109.3m, while contracted annual rent roll grew by 34.7% to £303.4m, led by the addition of £8m of rent through rent reviews and asset management activities. Rent reviews saw passing rents rise by 10.7% during the period. Looking ahead, Tritax said it saw the opportunity to add  £121m to rents in the near term and the opportunity to more than double its rental income over the longer term. “We believe both the occupational and investment markets are at an inflection point, with the potential to both accelerate and amplify opportunities to drive shareholder returns,” said Adams. “We expect this change in environment to result in greater leasing activity in the second half of the year and into 2025.” He added: “Looking forward, in addition to the growth from within our investment and development portfolios, we continue to explore additional ways of leveraging our expertise into near adjacencies, including power and datacentres, where we are actively progressing potential opportunities.”