Student accommodation provider Unite Group issues a trading update this week and analysts will seek guidance on applications, amid worries about slower growth.
Unite’s upbeat first-half presentation did its best to knock back these concerns but it has withdrawn from some markets, including Aberdeen.
Guidance already given by chief executive officer Joe Lister pointed to occupancy for the year of at least 97% and rental growth of between 4% and 5%% for the student year of 2025-26
Analysts and investors will also look for an update on the swoop for Empiric Student Properties and further development and approvals across the portfolio of assets.
AJ Bell analysts say this is because they ultimately feed into rental growth and therefore changes in the valuation of the total asset base.
Unite’s current portfolio comprises around 68,000 beds across 152 properties in 23 cities, with another 8,900 beds in the pipeline for development by 2030.
Hays
Shares in recruitment specialist Hays last traded at their current levels in 2008, as the Great Financial Crisis gripped the world, and before that in 1993, just as the UK was staggering out of a recession.
June’s profit warning did not help sentiment, and the company cut its dividend for the year to June 2025. It delivers a first quarter trading update on Friday.
“At least expectations are low and chief executive Dirk Hahn did not offer any further bad news alongside August’s full-year results,” say AJ Bell analysts.
Mr Hahn has suggested that consultant numbers would remain unchanged in the first quarter, compared to the year-end figure of 6,070, though that figure is down by a third from the post-pandemic peak of more than 9,000 reached in the early stages of calendar 2022.
Hays pushed through £35 million in annual cost savings last year and has targeted a further £45m a year by the year ending June 2029.
Those cost savings resulted in £31m of exceptional charges last year and they left Hays with a headline pre-tax profit of £1.5m, down from £14.7m the year before. Excluding exceptional items, pre-tax income fell by two thirds to £32m and the company’s bottom line ended in the red.
The analysts’ consensus is for a gentle recovery in stated net income to £9m, after last year’s £8 million deficit, ahead of a much bigger rebound to £57m in the year to June 2027.
DIARY
Monday 6 October
- Full-year results from Beeks Financial Cloud
- UK construction industry purchasing managers’ index (PMI)
Tuesday 7 October
- UK retail sales report from British Retail Consortium
- Halifax UK house price index
Wednesday 8 October
- First-half results from Vertu Motors
- Trading update from Unite
Thursday 9 October
- Full year results from AJ Bell
Friday 10 October
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