Questor: undramatic perhaps, but predictability is just what our Income Portfolio needs

Our Income Portfolio chugs along. There are no striking developments to report but that is surely a good thing: we want assets that we can rely on to produce steady dividends no matter what happens in the wider world.

Readers who crave more excitement are referred to our Inheritance Tax Portfolio of Aim-quoted shares, which is covered here, like our Income Portfolio, roughly one week in three.

Now that readers’ expectations are firmly under control we will update on some of the latter portfolio’s holdings.

Update: Residential Secure Income

It would be hard to beat “Resi” for stability: last month it announced that it would pay its usual 1.25p-a-share quarterly dividend, in line with its annual (inflation-linked) target of 5p, and that its net asset value of 105p a share at the end of December was precisely unchanged from the figure three months previously.

It said rent collection from its portfolio of shared ownership, retirement and local authority housing remained strong: 99pc of rents due in the last quarter of 2020 were paid. The trust said this figure was unchanged throughout the pandemic and in line with normal performance, “demonstrating the secure nature of Resi’s cashflows”.

It is continuing to build its portfolio and has exchanged contracts for the £29m purchase of 85 newly completed shared ownership homes from the London Borough of Croydon’s housing development company.

The deal was partly funded by £10m drawn from what it described as an “ultra long-term” secured debt facility with the Universities Superannuation Scheme, a further source of stability. 

Questor says: hold

Ticker: RESI

Share price at close: 89.1p

Update: Sirius Real Estate

This is another well run property firm, this time with a specialisation in German business parks.

Sirius’s rent collection during the pandemic has also been excellent: it has received 97.7pc of rent and service charges billed in the nine months to the end of December. In the 2020 calendar year its cash collection rate was 98pc.

It has written off just €205,000 (£180,000) from a total of €141m in rent and service charge invoices. At the end of last year just 16 of its 5,000 tenants had needed to enter into a deferred payment plan.

The company has received 94.3pc of the rents and service charges billed for last month, compared with 95pc for January 2020. It said sales were in line with previous months and inquiry levels last month were about 20pc higher than at the same time last year.

Andrew Coombs, the chief executive, said: “Our inquiries, sales and cash collection, as well as the robust commitment of the German government to supporting business throughout 2021, give us confidence in our ability to continue to trade well through the Covid-19 environment.

"With total cash balances in excess of €70m the company has the capacity to continue to make acquisitions.”

Questor says: hold

Ticker: SRE

Share price at close: 92.8p

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Update: Regional Reit

Regional Reit also published an update on rent collection last month, this time for the whole of 2020. Over the year 95.5pc of rents due were paid. The effect of the pandemic could be seen – the figure fell from 99.2pc in the first quarter to 97.4pc, 97.2pc and 88.7pc in the subsequent quarters – but the declines were hardly ruinous.

Some of the shortfall in the fourth-quarter figure is normal at this stage: at the equivalent stage of the previous year, before the pandemic, 88.8pc of rents had been collected. The annual figure is also roughly in line with the previous year’s 96.9pc at the same stage.

The head of the trust’s management company said he expected to collect “the vast majority of the outstanding balance in due course”. He added: “We believe this achievement to be exceptional in our sector in light of the ongoing pandemic and it strongly illustrates the close relationships that we hold with our valued tenants.”

Questor is impressed with the trust’s record. 

Questor says: hold

Ticker: RGL

Share price at close: 80.1p

Update: JP Morgan Claverhouse

Two weeks ago this investment trust chalked up its 48th successive year of dividend growth when it announced its fourth payment for 2020. That 10p divi brought the year’s total to 29.5p, which was a rise of 1.7pc compared with the 29p paid in 2019.

Questor says: hold

Ticker: JCH

Share price at close: 622p

Read the latest Questor column on telegraph.co.uk every Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 6am.