April 20 2026 19:00
BERLIN, GERMANY
JSE-listed Sirius Real Estate has increased its rent roll by 18.4% for the year to March 31 2026 following asset acquisitions and strong demand for space in its branded business and industrial parks in Germany and the UK.
The Real Estate Investment Trust said in a trading update that organic, like-for-like rent roll growth had also been strong at 6,4%. It is the 12th consecutive year where rental roll growth exceeded 5%. Thirteen asset acquisitions were made as strategy moved towards growing defence industry space requirements.
“We invested £464m into primarily resilient, income-generating assets that also offer the opportunity to create value through our platform. Around a third of this was invested into business parks that bolster our portfolio of industrial assets let to defence-related businesses, which we expect to continue to benefit from increased government-led defence spending across Europe and further afield,” said CEO Andrew Coombs.
In Germany, anticipated move-outs in the first half were more than offset by pricing gains on renewals and heightened occupier activity, particularly in the final quarter.
Sirius’ in-house asset management platform was able to capture rate growth and occupancy gains. In spite of the volatile geopolitical backdrop, the increase in income was expected to convert into valuation growth in the German portfolio at the year end, supported by stable property yields.
The UK performance was reportedly strong but political uncertainty concerned Sirius’ team.
Following the publication of the Prime Minister’s Autumn Statement, which restored some certainty into the market, “2026 started very strongly, with occupier sales metrics suggesting some catch-up and mitigation of the third quarter’s weakness, nonetheless leading to reasonable like-for-like rent roll growth in the U.K. over the whole year,” said Coombs and CFO Chis Bowman in a statement.
Property valuations in the UK were likely to be maintained. Asset acquisitions brought a total investment value of £464m Three of the assets, Bedford, Feldkirchen and Kiel, representing £155m in investment, have a notable defence component to their tenant base.
“These acquisitions fall in line with our strategy of building a portfolio of defence-related properties in Germany and the UK and are complementary to our traditional business parks,” Coombs and Bowman said.
Both countries announced material increases in defence spend, with Germany in seeking to grow spend to 5% of GDP through committed fiscal stimulus of around £400 billion.
“We believe this significant government funding will have a material effect on the demand for the types of industrial space that Sirius provides, with the urgency of the requirement making existing stock the only feasible option at scale,” Bowman and Coombs said.
Sirius maintained a strong balance sheet as demonstrated recently through the renewed and enlarged £300m revolving credit facility.
In February, a £77m equity fundraise was oversubscribed, which was targeted at acquiring the asset in Kiel, with Rheinmetall as the anchor tenant, and one defence-related asset together totalling £130m.
The group withdrew from the other transaction because the seller significantly increased their price expectations, but two alternative asset opportunities had been identified of about £30m, one of which was defence-related.
“We remain on track to generate the anticipated levels of funds from operations from the fundraise proceeds,” Coombs and Bowman said.
Sirius’ share price is up 5.35% year-to-date closing at R22.74 on Monday. Sirius is expected to announce annual results on June 1, this year.
247@propertyflash.co.za
