Brexit uncertainty starts to affect Listed property funds

The U.K.'s decision to leave the European Union created uncertainty in several sectors of the economy, including the property investment market.

New buyer enquiries have declined significantly across the country with the south of UK being the hardest hit.

The value of shopping centre owner New Frontier Properties’ assets has also been under pressure, with the company cautious about making new acquisitions in Britain, so soon after the referendum in favour of the UK leaving the EU.

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New Frontier, which on Monday reported results for the year to August, said it would proceed with caution until the uncertainty in the UK economy had eased and there was more clarity on the state of the property investment market.

The group’s total comprehensive income for the period, according to International Financial Reporting Standards, was a loss of £6.37m, which incorporated the writing off of the acquisition fees associated with the acquisition of The Houndshill Shopping Centre in Blackpool, the fall in valuation of its three retail investment properties and the mark to market value of the financial derivatives taken out to fix the company’s interest cost.

The company is 67.5% owned by JSE-listed Rebosis Property Fund. East London businessman Sisa Ngebulana, who is CEO of Rebosis, invested in New Frontier in order to diversify Rebosis’s investments.

Garreth Elston, a fund manager at Alternative Real Estate Capital Management, said there were concerns that New Frontier’s assets, many of which were in secondary UK cities, could come under further economic pressure soon because of the Brexit process.

The board declared a dividend of 4p per share for the reporting period and this, combined with an interim dividend declared earlier in 2016, totalled 7.6p per share.