State’s biggest landlord increased revenue by 20% last year

Ires Reit, the biggest landlord in the State, increased its revenue by more than 20 per cent last year arising mainly from investment in new assets during 2019 and 2020.

The company’s full-year results for last year show revenue from investment properties increased by 20.4 per cent to €74.7 million and net rental income grew by 18.3 per cent to €59.8 million in the period.

Ires saw strong occupancy of 98.4 per cent at December 31st. Rent collections for the residential portfolio were consistent at 98.9 per cent for 2020, and its net rental income margin was 80 per cent.

Average monthly rent per unit was €1,624 as at December 31st, which was up from €1,596 at the same point the year before.

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"Being cognizant of the challenges faced by many arising from the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the group has not implemented any rent increases on renewals since April 1st," chief executive Margaret Sweeney said.

“We have also continued to support our commercial tenants – about 3.5 per cent of revenue – whose businesses have been significantly impacted due to public health measure and lockdowns.

“We have payment plans in place for affected tenants, representing 18 per cent of our commercial tenants.”

She said the Dublin and Irish market continued to attract “significant investor demand” during 2020 despite the impact of Covid-19 and related restrictions.

Ires reported a gain of €19.1 million from the revaluation of its investment properties at December 31st, she said.

The company intends to declare a dividend of 3.22 cents per share for the year. It had a portfolio of 3,688 residential units across 34 properties in the Dublin region and one property in Cork as of the end of last year.

Despite the various public health measures in place as a result of Covid-19, including restrictions on travel and movement, the group continued to grow its portfolio during the year, with a modest increase of 22 units on the prior year.

This increase reflects the acquisition of 173 units, offset by the disposal of 151 units as part of a programme to redeploy capital across the business.

The group also has a further pipeline of 673 residential units, representing 18 per cent growth potential in the portfolio, which it said will be delivered over the coming years.

“This has been a period of unprecedented social and economic challenge due to the Covid-19 global pandemic,” continued Ms Sweeney.

“The results of the company for the year reflect the continuing execution of the growth strategy with investment in new assets of €45.5 million in 2020 and revenue growth of 20.2 per cent over the last year.

“We incurred €2.33 million of non-recurring general and administrative costs in this period due to the impact of Covid-19 on planned projects in the first half of the year.

“Since the year end, we have also closed the acquisition of a portfolio of 146 high-quality residential units at the Phoenix Park Racecourse, further increasing the portfolio size to 3,834 residential units.

“We were pleased to complete a successful circa €200 million equivalent notes placement in March, which strengthened the balance sheet by creating additional liquidity and funding sources while keeping interest rates at attractive levels.”

Looking forward, Ms Sweeney said social and economic uncertainty is likely to continue due to Covid-19, but that “ongoing supply constraints and resilient demand drivers for housing will underpin the performance of the group for the remainder of the financial year”.