Unite Students has said it will offer to forgo rent for students who choose to return home for the remainder of the 2019-20 academic year.
It is estimated this will reduce the group’s cashflow by between £90m and £125m during 2020.
The company said it chose to do this “despite a strong contractual position”, to “protect the long-term reputation of the business”.
Unite said it is implementing a number of measures to mitigate the cash shortfall.
The board will cancel its final dividend for 2019 and suspend further distributions until market conditions stabilise. This would retain an additional £124m in cash during the year, if no dividend payments are made.
It will also defer development and non-essential operational capex and cost savings, which would retain an additional £95m-£105m of cash in the business in 2020.
The company said it had £291m of cash and undrawn debt facilities available.
To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@egi.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @estatesgazette
