Outward yield movement has continued to hurt Abrdn European Logistics Income’s portfolio value over the first three months of this year.
The portfolio value declined by 1.6% on a like-for-like basis to €606.3m (£515.5m) by the end of Q1 from €633.8m in Q4 2023 predominantly driven by the assets in France and Germany, which declined by 5.2% and 4.2%, respectively.
The company reported net asset value as of March 31 this year of €0.92 per share, down 1.7% from €0.93 recorded at the end of last year.
The stock closed down 1% at £0.62 per share on 29 May.
Troels Andersen, lead fund manager at Abrdn, said: “Market expectation is mounting that the European Central Bank will start cutting interest rates at its next monetary policy meeting in June, and despite a small valuation decrease this last quarter, economic indicators are more positive for the second half of this year.
“With the improving backdrop, and key long-term structural drivers underpinning the logistics sector’s rental and capital growth prospects, we expect to see increasing investment activity for this high-conviction asset class.”
The firm declared an interim dividend for 2024 of €0.014, payable on 5 July.
During the three-month period, Abrdn European Logistics Income sold a vacant French warehouse in Meung sur Loire for €17.5m, in line with the 31 December 2023 valuation. Proceeds from the sale were used to pay down €11m of a loan with Bayern, reducing its loan-to-value ratio to 38.2%.
Fixed debt facilities totalled €248.5m on 31 March at an average all-in interest rate of 2%, with no major refinancing planned until mid-2025.
However, the company has indicated that it expects to sell most of the assets in its portfolio by the middle of 2025. The move comes amid the planned wind-down of the fund announced last week.
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