Prospectus

The investment objective of the Company is to provide Shareholders with regular, sustainable and growing long-term dividends (which it will seek to grow at least in line with the RPI inflation index) together with the potential for capital appreciation over the medium to long term.



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ESP(ESP) Fundamentals

StockMarketWire.com
Empiric Student Property (ESP) acquired the freehold of a 31 bed student accommodation property in Bath for £2.6 million, excluding costs.

2 Oolite Road is a newly constructed student accommodation asset that was completed in May 2016 for the 2016/17 academic year.

The property comprises 31 beds in a mix of four, five and six bed en-suite apartments and is located in a popular residential area on the university side of Bath city centre, with local bus routes that provide easy access to the city and the University of Bath.

The property was acquired from IESIS, an established local developer and operator of purpose-built student accommodation in Bath and Bristol, which is currently developing the 1-3 James Street West in Bath on behalf of Empiric.

Hello Student will be responsible for managing the Oolite Road scheme.

The group also entered a nomination agreement with the University of Bath in respect of the property.

The duration of the nomination agreement is for five years from commencement in September 2016 over which time the beds will be directly let at current market rates to students provided by the University of Bath, on the same terms as the nomination agreement in place for the group's four other assets in Bath.

Empiric Student Property chief executive Paul Hadaway said: "We are very pleased to have acquired our fifth student accommodation property in Bath.

"At the start of the 2016/17 academic year, we will have a total of 385 beds in operation in Bath, all of which are subject to nomination agreements with the University of Bath.

"As a UNESCO World Heritage city, there are limited opportunities for suitable development sites in Bath, which has two key universities with increasing student numbers and applications.

"Further, the provision of this purpose-built accommodation ensures that the existing limited housing stock in the city is not under additional pressure for student accommodation.

"This acquisition is in line with Empiric's investment criteria and returns profile."

Dividend Declaration

The Board of Empiric Student Property plc (ticker: ESP), the owner and operator of premium student accommodation across the UK, has declared a final interim dividend for the financial year ended 30 June 2016 of 1.5 pence per Ordinary Share in respect of the quarter ended 30 June 2016, payable on or around 17 August 2016 to Ordinary Shareholders on the register on 5 August 2016. The ex-dividend date will be 4 August 2016.

This dividend will be paid as an ordinary UK dividend ("non-PID") and takes the total paid in respect of the year to 30 June 2016 to 6 pence per Ordinary Share, in line with the Company's stated target.

StockMarketWire.com
Empiric Student Property has acquired the freeholds of three operating properties, two in London and one in Exeter, with a total of 213 beds, for an aggregate cash consideration of £21.5 million (excluding acquisition costs) from CBRE Global Investors.

These are:
- Isca Lofts, Exeter - £4.73 million
Isca Lofts, Longbrook Street, Exeter, is a direct-let student accommodation property with 71 beds across five studios and 66 en-suite bedrooms, plus management offices, onsite laundry and storage facilities. There is a retail unit on the ground floor which was sold in 2009 on a long leasehold (125 years) and which pays a peppercorn ground rent and service charge. The property, which was converted in 2008 from a 1920s former warehouse, is well located in Exeter city centre, close to Empiric's other assets (facilitating operating economies of scale) and within a 12 minute walk to the University of Exeter campus. The property, which is currently managed by Universal Student Living ("USL"), was fully let for 2015/16 and is fully pre-let for the 2016/17 academic year. The property will be operated by Collegiate AC, which operates the Group's other Exeter properties, from January 2017. - Grosvenor Hall, Twickenham, London - £6.18 million

Grosvenor Hall
Grosvenor Road, Twickenham, is a direct-let student accommodation property with 72 beds across one studio and 71 bedrooms arranged in multi-bed apartments plus management offices, laundry facilities, storage and parking which is let to students. The property was converted from offices in 2011 and is located within a five minute walk of Twickenham mainline train station which is a 20 minute direct journey into central London. The property is also a 20 minute walk or 10 minute bus ride to St Mary's University in Twickenham. St Mary's University has a well established reputation for excellence in Education, Sport and Theology, with over 5,000 students, of which over a quarter are postgraduates.

The property is currently managed by USL and will be migrated onto the Hello Student� operating platform from the beginning of 2017. The property was fully let for 2015/16 and is fully pre-let for the 2016/17 academic year, benefiting from an agreement with St Mary's University to underwrite the income on nearly half of the beds to meet its clearing requirements and a nominations agreement with LAL Language School for nine of the remaining beds.

- Francis Gardner Hall, West Hampstead, London - £10.59 million
Francis Gardner Hall, West End Lane, West Hampstead, has 70 beds, of which 65 are en-suite, arranged in multi-bed apartments and communal facilities including a gym, a cinema room and a games room. The building was originally constructed in around 1890 and was converted and refurbished in 2004/05. The property is located within a five minute walk to West Hampstead station (serviced by the Jubilee underground line, the Overground line and Thameslink) and under 10 minutes' walk to Kilburn Park station (on the Bakerloo underground line), providing easy access into central London.

The property is currently let to young professionals on a six-month assured shorthold tenancy basis and is currently 97% let. It will remain under the management of the incumbent, Springboard Urban, but will be migrated onto the Hello Student� operating platform at the beginning of 2017, at which point the property will start to be operated as student accommodation.

Chief executive Paul Hadaway said: "The acquisition of this portfolio increases our presence in Exeter to 414 beds across five properties and adds a further 142 beds in London, where the Group owns one other property, Halsmere Studios in Camberwell with 79 beds. Empiric has a limited presence in London in relation to the size of the full-time student population in the city, as we believe that, typically, assets in the regions represent better investment value. However, as these acquisitions demonstrate, we will continue to acquire properties in London that meet our investment criteria and which should provide good returns going forward. This acquisition is in line with Empiric's investment criteria and returns profile."

Numis today downgrades its investment rating on Empiric Student Property Plc (LON:ESP) to hold (from add) and cut its price target to 118p (from 124p).

Record university offers as top A-level grades slip

Yes. I have never heard of essay mills, which are becoming a real problem for the Universities and schools. Lots of Internet aids, yet standards slip!

StockMarketWire.com
Empiric Student Property has acquired the freehold of a 79 bed student accommodation property in Canterbury for £9.2 million, excluding costs.

Pavilion Court was developed by the vendor, Pavilion Property Group, for the 2013/14 academic year. The property comprises 79 beds in a mix of studios and one, two, three and four-bed apartments.

The property also includes a ground floor commercial unit currently let to Sainsbury's on a lease extending to 2027, with the next rent review due in February 2017.

The property is located on St Dunstan's Street in central Canterbury. The University of Kent is a 20 minute walk away and there is a regular university bus which stops outside the property. Canterbury Christ Church University is a 15 minute walk away, through the city centre.

The property has let well historically, being 100% let for both the 2014/15 and 2015/16 academic years, and is letting in line with Empiric's expectations for 2016/17. Hello Student will be responsible for lettings and management of the property, which, to date, has been marketed by a local estate agent on behalf of the vendor.

StockMarketWire.com
Empiric Student Property has agreed a new loan facility of £30.63 million with The Royal Bank of Scotland.

The facility is secured against a portfolio of five forward funded assets, held as a lending group through a wholly owned subsidiary, Empiric Investments (Five) Limited.

The facility is a development loan with each of the properties allocated a loan limit which will be drawn down in agreed stages over the development period of the property.

The facility will convert into an investment loan for each development, separately, providing that, inter alia, such development has reached practical completion. The amounts drawn down under the facility will be segregated and non-recourse to the company.

In accordance with the company's investment policy, the company will maintain a conservative level of aggregate borrowings, targeting a level of 35% but no more than 40% of the gross asset value of the company (calculated at the time of draw down).

StockMarketWire.com
Empiric Student Property posts an operating profit of £30.0 million for the year to the end of June (2015: £12.6 million). Revenues of £21.6m were up from £8.3m and gross annualised rent increased to £33.1m from £18.4m.

Basic net asset value per share rose to 105.4 pence - 2.1% up on a year ago and net of all property acquisition costs.

Total return of the group was 4.6% for the year, compared with -8.29% for the FTSE All Share REIT Index for the same period. The group's total return was negatively affected by the volatility in the market following the EU referendum which caused the share price to drop but it has since recovered.

Chairman Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde said: "At the time of this report, the country is still digesting the outcome of the EU referendum held in June 2016.

"While we cannot currently predict how the result of the referendum will impact on the country and the economy, we know that the UK Government remains committed to promoting UK higher education internationally, both in the EU (which represents only 6% of all full-time students in the UK) and further afield, in order to maintain the world-class reputation of our universities.

"With the supply/demand fundamentals of the sector persisting, Empiric continues to be well positioned with our diversified property portfolio delivering further rental growth and investors are also expected to benefit from the potential value to be added from our developments completing, our attractive investment pipeline and through our Hello Student operating platform and brand.

"Empiric has grown substantially and the experience, knowledge and commitment of the whole team, with the support of the Board, provides a solid base for the future of the Company as we work towards our proposed 2025 Plan."

Empiric acquires a portfolio of five student accommodation assets in Exeter, Leicester and Portsmouth

The Board of Empiric Student Property plc (ticker: ESP), the owner and operator of premium student accommodation across the UK, is pleased to announce that the Group has acquired the freeholds of five operating properties, one in Exeter, two in Leicester and two in Portsmouth, with a total of 464 beds, for an aggregate cash consideration of £26.69 million (excluding acquisition costs) from assets managed by LaSalle Investment Management.

All the properties were fully let for the 2015/16 academic year and are 100% pre-let for the 2016/17 academic year. The operations are currently managed by Campbell Property which will continue to manage the properties on behalf of the Group before operations are integrated onto the Hello Student® operating platform.

Bishop Blackall School (£8.02 million) - Exeter
Bishop Blackall School, Exeter, was converted in 2011 from an Edwardian school and headmaster's house into a direct-let student accommodation property with 113 beds across a mix of two to eight bedroom apartments, each of which has its own kitchen and living area. The property is a 10 minute walk to the University of Exeter campus and seven minutes from the city centre. It is within easy reach of Empiric's six other properties in the city, facilitating operational economies of scale.

The Hosiery Factory (£5.61 million) and The Shoe and Boot Factory (£8.86 million) - Leicester
The Hosiery Factory, Leicester, which was converted in 2015, is a direct-let student accommodation property with 107 beds across a mix of three to nine bedroom apartments, each of which has its own kitchen and living area.

The Shoe and Boot Factory, Leicester is a direct-let student accommodation property with 173 beds across a mix of four to eight bedroom apartments, each of which has its own kitchen and living area. The building was converted from the original factory in 2013 and retains many of the original features. Two new build structures have created a courtyard amenity space.

The properties, which are located opposite each other, are well situated in the city centre, a three minute walk to De Montford University and a 15 minute walk to the University of Leicester, and within easy reach of Empiric's other five properties in the city, facilitating operational economies of scale.

Elm Grove Library (£1.11 million) and Kingsway House (£3.09 million) - Portsmouth
Elm Grove Library, Portsmouth, which was converted from a former library building in 2012, is a direct-let student accommodation property with 19 beds across a mix of three to five bedroom apartments, each of which has its own kitchen and living area.

Kingsway House, Portsmouth, is a direct-let student accommodation property with 52 beds across a mix of three, four, seven and eight bedroom apartments, each of which has its own kitchen and living area. The building was converted from a former NHS office building in 2014 and has been redesigned to create a central living area, with the original concrete cladding having been replaced with a more modern façade.

The properties, which are located opposite each other, are situated in the student hub in Southsea, a 15 minute walk to the University of Portsmouth and a 20 minute walk to the Gunwharf Quays shopping centre.

Paul Hadaway, Chief Executive of Empiric Student Property plc, commented:
"The acquisition of this portfolio increases our presence in Exeter to approximately 595 beds across seven properties, in Leicester to 560 beds across seven properties and in Portsmouth to 354 across four properties. The purchase of small, complementary portfolios of properties enables us to deploy the Group's capital in a more cost efficient manner, the benefit of which accrues to our shareholders. This acquisition is in line with Empiric's investment criteria and returns profile."

Jefferies International Buy 110.50 125.00 125.00 Reiterates

Interesting one now as it seems that, with Brexit, the numbers of foreign students registering for courses in England (particularly science, medicine and associated subjects) is already down by 9%. It may be that there might be a bit of over supply in the UK in the following 12 months, though I think ESP also has properties in the US which should mitigate the problem.
Yield at around 5% is attractive, but sp taking a bit of a hit at mo.

Harry - posted elsewhere :-

"According to ESP's results RNS only 6% of full time students are from the EU, so a fall of 9% on that equates to a fall of 0.54% only on the overall figure. Also many (I think probably most) of ESP's properties are already fully let for this new academic year - see for example the most recent RNS for newly acquired properties (7th Oct) which states that all 5 are 100% let."

Empiric commits to three forward funded developments in Leicester

The Board of Empiric Student Property plc (ticker: ESP), the owner and operator of premium student accommodation across the UK, is pleased to announce that the Group has entered into three forward funding arrangements with a Leicester-based property company to develop a total of 170 beds in Leicester for an aggregate investment of £15.975 million.

134 New Walk and 140-142 New Walk are located immediately to the west and east, respectively, of the Group's recently acquired standing asset at 136-138 New Walk. These Victorian terrace properties are being converted and extended to the rear to the same specification as the standing asset, to form a contiguous run of high specification student accommodation from 134 to 142 New Walk. 134 New Walk will comprise a total of 16 studios, while 140-142 New Walk will comprise 42 studios and three 2-bed apartments. In total, Empiric will own 94 beds at 134 to 142 New Walk.

Princess Road East is a new build, high specification student accommodation scheme comprising 106 studios with generous communal facilities including a gym, cinema, common room and work rooms.

All three properties are adjacent to Victoria Park and close to the University of Leicester and De Montfort University. New Walk is a pedestrianised road linking Victoria Park and the nearby city centre.

The acquisition of the 140-142 New Walk and Princess Road East properties are conditional on the developer satisfying various conditions precedent in the Development Agreement. All three properties will be marketed and managed through the Hello Student® operating platform. 134 New Walk is expected to be delivered by May 2017, in time for the 2017/18 academic year and the other two properties by May 2018, in time for the 2018/19 academic year.

Paul Hadaway, Chief Executive of Empiric Student Property plc, commented:

"Following this acquisition, the Group will own 730 beds in Leicester, targeting both the University of Leicester and De Montfort University, with some 30,600 full-time students. The Group's existing operating properties have a strong lettings history and are all fully let for the 2016/17 academic year. This acquisition is in line with Empiric's investment criteria."

StockMarketWire.com
Empiric Student Property has agreed a new £40 million extension facility to its existing £80 million fixed rate term loan facility arranged by Barings Real Estate Advisers, a member of the MassMutual Financial Group.

The amended and restated facility is now secured against a portfolio of 25 operating assets, held as a lending group through a wholly owned subsidiary, Empiric Investments (Four) Limited. The new £40 million facility is expected to be drawn down in full on 16 December. The amended and restated facility is repayable in April 2028. The new £40 million extension facility has a fixed all in rate of 3.64%, interest only, throughout the term.

This rate is fixed up to a loan to value ratio of 55%. This provides a fixed all in blended rate of 3.37% for the amended and restated facility.

RESULT OF GENERAL MEETING

Quite a strong vote against the Director's remuneration package!

I shall have to do some research into the Value Delivery Plan. Good for the people who voted. Nice to see them being proactive, rather than the usual 'can't be bothered to vote but am happy to moan' brigade!

Yes it is Harry.

JP Morgan - Chase Nominees Limited CREST: BO01 - Account 11429 < 3%

http://www.iii.co.uk/investment/detail?code=cotn:LSE:ESP&display=discussion

The post at 15.21 by HardBoy is worth a quick read, though he doesn't address the Directors remuneration package question.

Thanks Harry - I hold more WJG value wise - I think some holiday research generally is in order!