SEGRO has reported earnings growth of 5.5% for the financial year ended 31 December 2024, which it has attributed to record rental uplifts and proactive asset management.
The company generated new headline rent commitments of £91m last year – making it its third best year on record – compared with £88m in 2023. Some £26m of this was driven by the capture of reversion in its UK portfolio at rent reviews and renewals, reflecting a record 43% average uplift.
SEGRO’s net rental income rose 7% to £628m, driven by strong like-for-like rental growth of 5.8% and development completions.
Its adjusted pre-tax profit increased by 14.9% to £470m compared with £409m in 2023, resulting from increased net rental income and lower interest costs.
SEGRO completed acquisitions totalling £431m and disposed of £896m of assets, which it expected to deliver less attractive risk-adjusted returns.
The full-year divided for 2024 increased 5.4% to 29.3p and the final divided increased by 5.8% to 20.2p.
David Sleath, chief executive of SEGRO, said: “SEGRO delivered over 5% growth in earnings and dividends per share in 2024. We generated £91m of new headline rent, our third best year on record, including a 43% uplift from UK rent reviews and renewals.
“We have created the largest data centre hub in Europe and are increasingly excited about the exceptional value creation opportunity from our pipeline of 2.3GW European data centre sites in core availability zones. We plan to pursue the most attractive risk-adjusted returns on each opportunity, including initially working with partners to develop fully-fitted data centres.
“We have strong conviction in the enduring structural trends that are driving occupier demand for our space. Our business, with its high-quality, well-located, urban-weighted portfolio, exceptional land bank and strong balance sheet is primed for further growth. Having seen conversations with occupiers pick up pace in recent weeks, we expect leasing and pre-letting activity to increase. This would support attractive, compounding earnings and dividend growth in the medium-term, with significant additional value upside from our data centre pipeline.”
