Here’s an idea. There is little to obviously attract an investor in the depressed retail sector and its supermarket constituents, operating as they are at the thick end of the downturn in sentiment among consumers. At the same time, despite the pressures on trading, there is little prospect of the average householder abandoning the practice of doing the weekly shop, more often than not at the nearest megastore operated by one of the big four grocers. We all need to eat.
So why not see these companies less as retailers and more as tenants occupying valuable properties, and ones that are reliable payers of rent over the long term to boot? That is the approach taken by Supermarket Income Reit, a listed real estate investment