Unite Releases Its Year End Results

Unite has released its results for the year ending 31 December 2017, reporting profit before tax of £229.4 million.

The 14% year-on-year increase in profit before tax was off the back of like-for-like rental growth of 3.4%, however this was down on the 3.8% year-on-year increase reported in 2016.

The company has increased its proportion of beds under nomination agreements to 60%, compared to 58% a year earlier, while 85% of Unite's portfolio is located at high and mid-ranked Universities. This will increase to 90% on completion of its development pipeline and planned acquisitions and disposals.

The company has a secured development and University partnerships pipeline of 9,400 beds, with all schemes due to be delivered over the next four years.

New University partnerships include a development-led partnership secured with Oxford Brooks University with planning to deliver 887 beds in 2019. While a second development-led partnership with King's College, London is subject to planning, but could result in around 1,000 beds being delivered by 2021.

Unite has reported a record level of reservations for 2018-19 at 75% compared to 73% a year earlier, while expectations are for 2018-19 rental growth of 3.0-3.5% on a like-for-like basis.

Unite now has a total operational portfolio of 50,000 beds with a total value of £4.6 billion.