Life Science REIT plc (LABS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Okay. We're good to go. Thank you very much, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to be presenting the 2023 Full Year Results for Life Science REIT, and to provide you with an update on the further progress that we're making. My name is Simon Farnsworth. I'm the Managing Director of Ironstone the REIT's Investment Adviser; and I'm joined by David Lewis, our Finance Director; and Ian Harris, our Head of Asset Management. I'll start by setting the scene and providing a market update. David will then walk you through our financial results for the year, and Ian will then dive into some of the detail on key portfolio activity and the ongoing asset management initiatives. Just before we kick off a bit of housekeeping, 2 things. Firstly, today's presentation is being recorded, and a replay will be available on our website afterwards. And secondly, there will be an opportunity for investors and analysts to ask questions at the end of the presentation. So despite the ongoing economic uncertainty, our focus this year has been on our key strategic priorities, that's delivering sustainable space for life sciences, progressing our leasing program and ensuring that the business remains well financed, and we've made good progress in each of these areas. We developed or repurposed more than 80,000 square feet of space in the year. That's 140,000 square feet with post year-end completions included. Our leasing activities covered 126,000 square feet, and we're delighted to have added 6 life science companies in a range of sectors, including Biomed, data, AI, Quantum Computing and Agri-Tech. This developments and leasing activity has supported valuations, with space already converted to labs being much more resilient. It was down just 1.6% and ERV growth was strong at over 10%, driving a like-for-like ERV growth across the portfolio of 5%. However, market-driven yield shift led to a valuation decline across the portfolio, led by buildings, which have yet to be repurposed as labs, and we'll come on to that later. Importantly, we are managing our balance sheet well. Our leverage is low, and we have successfully refinanced our debt facilities with 100% of our debt now fully hedged. We have also demonstrated a very disciplined approach to capital allocation, including a rebasing of the dividend announced this morning. Before I take you through that, I'd like to set out a wider approach to capital allocation. So having fully deployed our IPO proceeds, the focus is now on development and repurposing. To really drive returns going forward, we're prioritizing transformational schemes like Oxford Technology Park and are repurposing at Cambourne Park, which will drive rent and earnings. At the same time, with the macro-outlook still uncertain, we need to maintain a strong balance sheet. This is the context for our decision earlier in the year -- last year to sell Lumen House at Harwell. After a thorough analysis of the potential returns from this project versus others in the portfolio, it was clear our financial and management resources were better directed elsewhere. The sale, which was achieved at a premium of 2% to book value was a good outcome for shareholders in the current climate. For similar reasons, the Board has also taken the decision to rebase the dividend to 2p per share, a level which is both sustainable and substantially covered by earnings over time. Our aim is to deliver an attractive total return for our shareholders as our asset management and development activities will drive income and capital growth. The Board intends to maintain a sustainable dividend going forward and future dividends will reflect the progression in underlying earnings. On this slide, I've set out exactly how we're investing this capital to create value for our shareholders. We've deliberately assembled a portfolio with opportunities to deliver space for science and technology. The cost of delivering this will obviously vary depending on the scale of the scheme with a simple repurposing like Rolling Stock Yard cheaper than a more comprehensive refurbishment such as Cambourne Park. In terms of the upside, fully fitted lab space can achieve a rent -- can typically achieve a rental premium of 70% compared to our traditional offices and lab space is also valued on a tighter yield and that premium is about 75 basis points at the moment. Together, these factors support long-term capital growth. At the moment, given the continuing macro headwinds, that's been more about resilience. And Ian will explain how our lab space is outperforming. But longer term, that should translate into much more tangible value creation. I'm now going to provide an update on our markets and why we believe the fundamentals are so supportive of our strategy over the longer term. I've set out here the key macro trends, which hopefully you're all familiar with, an aging population, the strength of the U.K.'s academic institutions and the support of government. What is becoming more important is the role of technology, which is accelerating the pace of discovery, but also expanding the field to new subsectors. This is captured by a new industry term DEEP BIOTECH, which covers areas like quantum computing and AI, the modern biotech such as gene editing. As you can see on this slide, this is resulting in an influx of new investment into the sector by some of the world's leading tech companies with a lot more planned. At the same time, VC funding for U.K. life sciences looks to be stabilizing at about GBP 2 billion, below the post-pandemic peak, but similar to last year and to 2020. But what does all this mean for the real estate? Well, the clustering of these innovations is already happening across our campuses, and Ian is going to talk more about that later. The major impact of this rapid change is the need for flexible space that can cater for so many different types of use, some of which we might not even know about today. And this is what we're responding to through our ongoing asset management initiatives. Turning to our individual markets. And in Cambridge, laboratory take-up recorded its highest point for 7 years with requirements close to 1 million square feet for laboratories alone. And this compares to available space in the market of about 89,000 square feet. As a result, we're seeing rents for fully fitted labs rise rapidly to over GBP 70 a square foot in 2023, and they're forecast to hit GBP 75-plus this year. Our offer at Cambourne Park plays well to these dynamics. We're delivering smaller fitted units, which is exactly where demand is strongest, and our price point looks highly affordable. We've just completed the rebranding of the park and are commencing our fitted lab refurbishment, which Ian will talk more about shortly. So we're very well placed to capitalize on the opportunities that we're seeing in this market. Oxford is a slightly different story. Lab supply has increased, and although there remains a weighted demand for life science space, given the wider macro backdrop occupiers have been more cautious about taking space. But crucially, in the tech box market, which is where we're focused, the demand-supply dynamics remain very favorable. This subsector is about flexible buildings with plenty of power and the ability to house multiple users under one roof, and this is exactly what we're delivering at Oxford Technology Park. While today, a business might need, say, 40% wet labs with the advancement of AI and robotics, this might fall to 20% in a few years' time with dry labs and computing labs becoming much more prominent. We're also able to structure buildings and leases with expansion space to accommodate occupiers as their operations evolve. It can be very difficult for complex scientific operations to move and therefore, occupiers often have longer time horizons. So in-built flexibility Cambridge hugely attractive to them. Very often, these buildings are much cheaper construct, and these facilities are becoming more and more sought after. We are the leading providers of this type of space in the Oxford market. And finally, turning to the third point of the Golden Triangle to London. Here, the market is developing rapidly and has seen a substantial increase in life sciences investment and company formation over the last year. We remain firm believers that the Knowledge Quarter around King’s Cross, St Pancras is becoming the premier life science cluster in Europe. And this has been demonstrated again by Merck's, NSD's recent commitment to breaking ground on the new GBP 1 billion HQ right opposite King's Cross station. And the Francis Crick Institute recently announced expansion plans in the area. Currently, fitted lab supply in London totals around 180,000 square feet, and that compares to science-related requirements of nearly 1 million square feet. But again, occupiers are being more cautious and postponing decisions where they can. So it will take time for this demand to translate into leasing activity. But on the supply side, much has been made about the ability to turn offices into lab space. And while this can be done successfully in some cases, not all offices are suitable for conversion. We think the fundamentals of this London market remain highly attractive. And on that note, I'm now going to hand you over to David, who will talk you through our financial results and our debt strategy.

Thanks, Simon. I'm delighted to present some further detail on our full year results, which now reflect a full year of revenue and costs for the assets acquired in early 2022. We've continued to deliver growing net rental income in 2023 to GBP 13.8 million, 27% up on prior year as we lease up our available space at Rolling Stock Yard and OTP. And this has a flow-through effect to our underlying direct property costs as our cost ratio is down 15% to 44.2%. This strong operational performance supported by 100% rent collection has delivered an increase in adjusted earnings by 168% year-on-year to GBP 6.7 million. The year-end portfolio valuation does reflect the Lumen House disposal and current market sentiment, which resulted in a small absolute 1.4% decrease to GBP 382.3 million. In line with our expectations as we continue to develop OTP, we have drawn on our secured debt facility, resulting in higher net borrowings at GBP 94.4 million and net LTV at 24.7%, but this is still well below our target range of 30% to 40%. So firstly, looking at the earnings bridge, the total increase in adjusted earnings of GBP 4.2 million, GBP 2.6 million reflects the full year rental income from Herbrand Street and new lettings at Rolling Stock Yard and OTP. A reduction in net finance costs have provided a further GBP 0.7 million of earnings following the repayment of the acquired OTP debt facility and ongoing interest capitalization on the OTP development. Reduction in our total property costs through increased lettings has provided a further GBP 0.4 million increase in earnings. And lastly, a further GBP 0.3 million on a like-for-like basis has resulted from our continued focus on working with our [ compet ] occupiers to ensure both current rent and historic bad debt is 100% collected. On the next slide, this shows the main components of the movement in NTA per share from 90p at December 2022 to 79.9p at December 2023. So on the left-hand slide -- hand side of the slide, the 1.9p adjusted earnings increase is offset by the dividend payment in the year. But the main decrease is driven by a 6.1p like-for-like valuation decline due to an average 58 basis point outward yield shift, which Ian will discuss in more detail later in the presentation. Moving on to financing. On the next slide, looking at the liquidity and debt position. We extended the maturity of our existing GBP 150 million term an RCF facility with HSBC from March 2025 to June 2026 at a margin of 2.5%. This effectively replaced the acquired OTP development facility; we paid in February '23 that had a margin of 7.12% with a lower margin facility and a longer term. We also added Bank of Ireland to the lender group and included a GBP 40 million green loan tranche representing the group's first green financing. From the pro forma liquidity table on the right-hand side, liquidity of GBP 55.6 million, including the accordion facility is more than sufficient to satisfy final completion payments on OTP and repurposed Cambourne 2020, which Ian will also talk about. Net borrowings did increase GBP 29.2 million to GBP 94.4 million and available liquidity was reduced to GBP 55.6 million, driven by the ongoing CapEx requirements for OTP. However, to minimize interest costs in the short-term, we have also used the GBP 7.5 million net proceeds of the Lumen House disposal to partially pay down the revolving credit facility. As Simon has previously stated, we are 100% hedged on the drawn facility through March 25 as our hedging strategy utilizes forward interest freight caps, fixed at 2% to match the expected OTP development funding profile. And finally, our expectation is that we will continue to maintain a fully hedged position until the current expiry of the existing facility in June 26. I'll now hand over to -- over to Ian to review our portfolio in more detail and a deeper dive into the valuation. Thank you.

Thanks, David, and good morning, everyone. This slide gives you a snapshot of our portfolio. Following the sale of Lumen House, we now have 5 assets. As Simon said, that decision was about efficiently allocating our capital to the most attractive projects. What we now have across the portfolio is a range of opportunities from ground-up development at Oxford Technology Park, where we have over 260,000 square feet left to deliver, to near and longer-term laboratory repurposing, notably at Cambourne and at Rolling Stock Yard. You can also see the key portfolio stats here. Contracted rent is GBP 15 million, including the GBP 1.1 million from Fortescue WAE, who took occupation in October last year. ERV is nearly GBP 20 million. So there's plenty of upside in the portfolio still to come through. Occupancy is 79%, slightly down, reflecting recent completions of additional space at Oxford Tech Park, but on a like-for-like basis, it's actually up 5.2% to 87%. Looking at the valuation, market-driven outward yield shift in the second half has impacted values, offsetting gains that we made in the first half. As a result, the total value of the portfolio fell [ 0.1% ] on a like-for-like basis to GBP 382 million. The 58 basis points of outward yield shift was partly offset by strong ERV growth of 5% across the portfolio. What is clear is the divergence between space deemed to be laboratory space, that's about 32% of the portfolio and space that's still considered as offices. Lab space was much more resilient, down just 1.6% on a like-for-like basis with stronger ERV growth, less yield shift and more embedded reversion. By contrast, assets which have yet to be repurposed and as a result of valued as offices, primarily Herbrand Street and Cambourne, were down nearly 10% like-for-like, which is broadly in line with the wider office market. This divergence demonstrates that the repositioning initiatives that we've delivered and the positive leasing momentum we're driving is creating value, and that represents upside for the space where we are yet to deliver our plan. Turning now to leasing. As Simon said, occupiers are taking longer to make decisions, but we're pleased to have welcomed 6 new life science occupiers to the portfolio in 2023, taking a total of 126,000 square feet. Deals were 3.2% ahead of ERV and added GBP 3.2 million to contracted rents. As of today, we have a further 16% of the IQ at OTP under offer. The occupiers we're signing span the range of life sciences and have taken a mix of wet lab, dry lab [indiscernible] space and accommodation. Rents we've achieved depending upon the level of fit out. For example, the lettings to Quantum and Oxford Ionics at OTP were for base build space, but we're now under offer at GBP 45 per square foot for a fully fitted option, which is around double what we've achieved so far, and this is a trend that we'll be looking to capitalize on further going forward. As we repurpose space from offices to laboratories and deliver more life science space at OTP, the proportion of our rental income derived from life science tenants is increasing. Last year, the proportion stood at 39%. This increased to 53% at the year-end with lettings to Beacon Therapeutics, Oxford Ionics, Arcturis data, Rakon, OGT, Quantum and Fortescue. Including agreements for lease, this figure rises to 55%, and including deals currently under offer, the figure rises even further to 56%. This evolution demonstrates how we're delivering on the strategy set out at IPO. So turning now to progress we're making at some of our major assets. Let's have a look at Cambourne to start with. This is a 230,000 square foot asset, which is already anchored by some great technology companies like Zeiss and MTK. This year, we fully updated the branding and relaunched it to the market as Cambourne Park Science and Technology Campus. We subsequently completed our first letting to Rakon, who took just under 5,000 square feet of dry lab and right up space at a new top rent for the campus of GBP 25 per square foot, but the wider opportunity here is some 180,000 square feet of potential lab repurposing still to come. 77,000 square foot of this is available for conversion by the end of 2025. Today, it's mostly offices valued on a yield of around 7%, which partly reflects vacancy. But when converted to wet or dry labs, that space would be valued today at a yield of around 5.5%. That's at least 150 bps uplift without assuming any market repricing. Starting this process now with building 2020, where we've commenced a project to deliver nearly 9,000 square feet of fully fitted lab space that will see us double the rents from GBP 25 to GBP 50 per square foot. This is the first phase of a very substantial refurbishment of the entire building as well as delivering fully fitted labs at grand floor. We're also undertaking structural strengthening work to the building, which will allow maximum conversion of the upper floors to labs in future phases. That means the cost at around GBP 295 a foot is higher than say it was at Rolling Stock that can effectively be spread over a much longer time period. Ultimately, once all the space in the building is repurposed as leases fall in, the building could be worth over GBP 45 million with a yield on cost of between 6% and 7%. We have planning consents. We've appointed the contractor and the work is scheduled for completion in the autumn of this year. Turning to Oxford Technology Park. Here, our building program is progressing well with 6 of the 12 buildings now completed. We signed 5 life science leases or agreements for lease in the year, taking overall occupancy of completed space by ERV to 60%. This figure rises further to 66% if we include deals currently into lister's hands. This activity has driven a 33% increase in rents since we acquired the park from GBP 15 to GBP 20 per square foot on the larger tech box units. But that price point is still attractive and has headroom for growth. What we're building here is not what you would typically see at Oxford Science Park, for example, is a highly flexible 2-story hybrid buildings or tech boxes. Externally, they're more akin to warehouses than they are to office buildings, but the science that can take place within them is exactly the same. They're highly flexible, can support both wet and dry lab occupiers, R&D space, office use or even GMP production. And importantly, the cost of construction is less than half what it would be for a glass cloud trophy asset at the science park. That enables us to be far more affordable in the rents that we charge to our tenants. This is a unique value proposition for the Oxford market. This combination of affordability and flexibility is proving attractive to tech operators like AI and quantum computing, who are starting to cluster at the park. When it comes to the all-important amenity offer, we have planning permission for a cafe together with co-working space, bookable presentation rooms and event space. A few months ago, we launched the OT portal app for our occupiers through which they're updated on visiting food trucks and can book on to yoga classes and boot camps. So there's a growing sense of community here at the park as well. Going forward, we're working to amend the design of the final 2 buildings, 10 and 11. We're aiming to deliver 4 units of between 10,000 and 20,000 square feet, which would bridge the size gap between what we currently offer in the IQ and the larger hybrid units. This would complete our offering to potential occupiers and enable us to tap into a subsector of the market that we are currently unable to accommodate. The ERV of the existing space is GBP 21 a foot, but through redesigning, we'll be targeting rents of over GBP 25. Drawing all this together, you can see there's over GBP 7 million of ERV to be captured on completion and lease-up of the remaining land and development. This gives a total ERV for the park of over GBP 11 million. We have the capital to fund the remaining developments and expect it to be fully complete by summer of next year. So this upside is very tangible. Also, as I mentioned earlier, we're about to sign an agreement for lease at the IQ. This will be our first fitted lab deal at the Technology Park, and we'll move rents on from GBP 25 to GBP 45 per square foot. There is scope to build on this with further speculative fit outs to release that rental upside. And I'd like to conclude with ESG. It's central to the way we do business. Our occupiers are global leaders in science and technology, and they expect a modern and sustainable place to work. They have highly ambitious ESG commitments of their own. Reducing our impact on the environment is a key focus. And to drive that, our net zero carbon pathway has been set for 2040 for Scope 1 and 2 emissions and 2045 for Scope 3. Already PV panels at Cambourne generated 127 megawatt hours of electricity last year. But the scope to roll this out further at OTP, in particular. Our new developments at the Technology Park are on track for BREEAM Excellent ratings and 87% of the portfolio now has an EPC rating of A to C. The only outlier is Herbrand Street, which is listed. Taking that out, 100% of the portfolio has an EPC rating of A to C. And with that, I'll hand you back to Simon.

Thanks very much, Ian. So what does all this activity mean for the company as we look forward? As it can be seen from this income bridge, there is significant upside to come through reversion and asset management activities, and we've broken this down into our easily identifiable buckets. Firstly, we have GBP 1.5 million of in-built reversion. And by this, I mean, mark-to-market of the existing income, and this will be largely captured through rent reviews, lease renewals and expiries. Secondly, we have GBP 4.1 million of income to come through the lease-up of vacant space at Rolling Stock Yard, Oxo Tech Park and Cambourne and currently 8% of this is under offer. And thirdly, we have a further GBP 3.7 million to be realized through the letting of under construction buildings at Oxo Tech Park. As of today, 16% is already pre-let or under offer. And then finally, we have the remaining buildings, 10 and 11 that Ian referred to earlier, which are -- at OTP, which are forecast to contribute a further GBP 1.8 million of income. So this totals a further GBP 9.6 million of achievable rent. And it's important to note that we're basing this analysis of our ERVs of CBRE's numbers, our valuers. And we're not factoring in any growth beyond today's rent. So of that GBP 9.6 million, we have already secured 10% either secured or in legals. And this is significant progress, but there is a lot more to do here. So despite the wider macro uncertainty, especially during the first half of 2023, we have maintained our focus on delivering the asset management initiatives, which are going to drive rental growth and earnings. Over the longer term, we expect more of our portfolio to benefit from the rent and yield premium that life science space is achieving. And in the short-term, we expect interest rates and valuation yields to further stabilize and liquidity to return to the capital markets, which should be beneficial for our portfolio and for our leasing prospects. At the same time, we're maintaining our discipline around capital allocation, and we're going to focus time and capital on to projects which will be transformational for our business and will deliver higher returns. We're creating a best-in-class portfolio here, which is attractively priced and tailored to growing parts of the U.K. life science market. We're sufficiently resourced to progress our strategy and expect to deliver rental growth to support our dividend with a payout aligned to earnings progression in the future. The upside in the business is very tangible with an uplift of 78% in income identified across the whole portfolio. And on that note, I'd like to now hand over for any questions you may have.

Timothy Leckie from Panmure Gordon. Just the -- on the slide you just presented really on the ERV bridge on 29. So you said that doesn't include the growth that's clearly happening in the underlying market. The 10% for the lab space is a solid number. I was just wondering if you could provide some further commentary on that. Is it -- can that sustain itself? What's your kind of view going forward? Would you be happy to sort of underwrite on an ERV growth level from the lab space that you're creating rather than the whole portfolio?

Sure. Thanks, Tim. Yes. I mean we're absolutely believe in that ongoing growth. I mean if you look at the supply-demand dynamics in -- particularly in Oxford and Cambridge, I mean there's still very, very limited supply coming through. Quite a lot of pipeline, if you look down the road is actually being delayed now through whether it's funding or uncertainty about the macroeconomic climate. So we see that sort of level of rent moving on. And we've already demonstrated that OTP on the non-lab space effectively that we can move rents quickly. And I think, Ian, we're hoping to assign our first fitted lab there today.

An agreement with -- yes, absolutely. Yes. We're hoping to sign up today, as I said, on 7,500 feet at the innovation quarter. Our first fitted deal at the technology part, which would move rents from GBP 22.50 to GBP 45 a foot, which just shows that premium that's available at the smaller end of the market for fitted space.

That's still a discount to prime labs in Oxford, which are now well above GBP 70, GBP 75 a square foot.

And just one quick one on -- it's interesting, you said that the wet space requirement could fall 40 to 20 as AI becomes integrated into these research processes. I guess it's all very wooly this area isn't it the combining intersection of all these technologies coming through and advancing one and the other, you will keep your remit broad, I guess, to capture that because you said you don't know what this future intersection is going to look like. So...

Yes.

Are you happy to have some flexibility in the sort of space? And then there's no unwind if you've got wet lab space and that demand falls as more modeling is done to be cost to pull that out?

No, it's not. I mean, do you want to talk a little bit about the sort of what the dry lab combinations that we've got.