Invest in German growth

UPDATE 2

EARLY last month, on November 8, Sirius Real Estate raised £137million by issuing 105 million new shares at £1.30 apiece.

The very next day, the property group’s chief executive, Andrew Coombs, spent just over £1million buying 760,000 shares at £1.39 each. Sirius is listed on the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges and directors are not allowed to participate in equity fundings directly under South African law. Coombs did the next best thing, even though it cost him an extra £70,000.

He went on to buy another 100,000 shares at £1.35 each at the start of this month, taking his holding to more than nine million shares.

Coombs’ show of faith is encouraging and it has already started to pay off, with shares now trading at £1.40 and analysts predicting further growth next year and beyond.

Sirius owns and runs business parks in Germany, with tenants ranging from car giant Daimler to thousands of small firms looking for workshops, offices or storage space. The firm has now expanded into the UK, buying BizSpace, a group of 70 industrial properties, for £245million. Similar deals may follow and more acquisitions are expected in Germany, with a business park south of Stuttgart joining the portfolio a fortnight ago.

Buying well, managing sites conscientiously and increasing rents along the way all feed into steady and sustained growth in income and dividends. The firm has barely missed a beat through the pandemic and brokers expect a 10 per cent increase in the dividend to 4.2 euro cents (3.6p) for the year to March 2022, rising to 5 cents in 2023.