Tritax Big Box REIT (LON:BBOX) used its full-year results webcast to highlight what management described as strong strategic progress in 2025, including the integration of major acquisitions, ongoing capital recycling, and early-stage advancement of its data center strategy.
Chairman Aubrey Adams opened the presentation by calling the results a “strong set,” reflecting “significant strategic progress and excellent delivery across the business.” Adams also said the presentation marked his final results as chairman, as he plans to retire from the board after nine years. He noted the company’s upcoming promotion to the FTSE 100, effective Monday.
Financial performance and dividend
Whitehead said net rental income increased 10.6%, supported by a full-year contribution from the UKCM logistics assets and a 10-week contribution from the Blackstone portfolio. Development management agreement (DMA) income was GBP 15.5 million, which Whitehead said was in line with expectations; the company guided that DMA income would revert to a GBP 3 million to GBP 5 million run rate for the 2026 financial year. He added that the company continues to exclude an additional element of DMA income from adjusted earnings to maintain year-on-year comparability.
Management also pointed to what it described as a large embedded rental upside, citing a 37% gap between current passing rents and estimated rental values (ERVs) across the portfolio.
Portfolio growth, capital recycling, and balance sheet
Whitehead said the portfolio value increased more than 20% over the year to GBP 7.9 billion, while EPRA net tangible assets (NTA) rose to 187.8 pence per share. He attributed the NTA increase to income growth and ERV growth leading to valuation gains, alongside equity consideration issued during the year.
The CFO detailed capital deployment during the period, including:
- GBP 231 million of logistics development capex (in line with guidance)
- GBP 209 million invested into the company’s first two data center schemes
- Logistics acquisitions totaling more than GBP 1 billion, primarily the Blackstone portfolio
Whitehead said the Blackstone portfolio is expected to deliver a 6% running yield in 2026 and described it as immediately accretive to adjusted earnings.
On disposals, Whitehead said the company sold or exchanged to sell GBP 416 million of assets during the year, moving it to roughly 80% completion of the UKCM non-strategic disposal program. Year-end loan-to-value (LTV) was 33.2%, which he said would reduce to 32.7% on a pro forma basis after GBP 62 million of post-year-end disposal completions.
Management also discussed reported versus underlying returns. Whitehead said the underlying total accounting return was 8.5%, while the reported total accounting return was 5.5% after three non-recurring items, including non-strategic asset performance, an impairment against the land option portfolio, and “technical NTA dilution” related to shares issued as part consideration for the Blackstone transaction.
In financing, Whitehead said the company refinanced and upsized its GBP 400 million revolving credit facility, issued a new GBP 300 million seven-year public bond at a 4.75% interest rate, and agreed an acquisition facility to part-finance the Blackstone transaction. He also noted a Moody’s upgrade to A3 stable during the year.
Asset management, leasing, and rental reversion
Chief Executive Officer Colin Godfrey said the company entered 2026 with “real momentum,” supported by improving occupier demand, the integration of acquisitions, and structural trends in logistics and data centers. Godfrey reiterated the company’s ambition to grow adjusted earnings by 50% by 2030, describing the business as positioned for “multi-year compounding growth.”
Whitehead said the asset management team added GBP 10.5 million of contracted rent through rent reviews and other lease events. He highlighted strong performance in open market rent reviews and hybrid reviews, which averaged 36% and 21% increases in passing rent, respectively. Portfolio vacancy reduced slightly to 5.6%, which he said reflected portfolio activity and a higher level of rotation within urban assets.
Godfrey emphasized embedded rental reversion as a core growth driver, saying that through rental reversion and vacancy the business has an opportunity to increase rental income by more than GBP 100 million, with 73% deliverable within the next three years, requiring minimal capital.
He also provided an update on the UKCM disposal program, saying GBP 299 million of UKCM non-strategic assets had been sold since May 2024, with a further GBP 62 million exchanged, leaving GBP 86 million across two assets to be sold “within the next few months,” with one of those assets under offer. Godfrey said the sales were, in aggregate, ahead of the effective cost of acquisition.
Development pipeline and data centers
Management described logistics development as a second growth driver. Whitehead said the company commenced construction on 1.4 million square feet during the year, with potential for more than GBP 13 million in headline rent, and secured 0.4 million square feet of development lettings adding nearly GBP 4 million to contracted rent at a yield on cost at the top end of the 6% to 8% target range. At year-end, the company had 1.8 million square feet under construction, representing GBP 19.6 million of potential rent, 53% pre-let.
In forward guidance, Whitehead said 2026 capex guidance remained unchanged, with logistics development expected to maintain a GBP 200 million to GBP 250 million run rate and data center development expected at GBP 100 million to GBP 200 million. He reiterated targeted returns of 7% to 8% for logistics and 9% to 11% across the two data center projects. He added that disposals are expected to remain elevated in 2026 at GBP 400 million to GBP 500 million, with the company targeting LTV at the lower end of its 30% to 35% range.
Data centers featured prominently in both prepared remarks and Q&A. Godfrey said the company launched its “Power First” data center strategy in 2025, describing power availability as the main constraint in the market. He said the company had created a pipeline with more than 230 megawatts of power across its first two sites, with potential for GBP 58 million of annual rent, targeting a 9% to 11% yield on cost.
On the Manor Farm, Heathrow data center project, management said a planning decision was expected “imminently,” with the Planning Inspectorate indicating determination on or before March 17, 2026. Godfrey said the application was called in by the Secretary of State for determination, which the company views as positive, and he added the project remained within the timetable previously outlined to the market. In response to a question on value recognition, management said that assuming planning and a pre-let are achieved this year, a “substantial part” of the capital profit would be expected in the current financial year, with additional value coming through during construction and at full de-risking.
Management also said progress was being made on a second data center site, with planning consent targeted during the course of the year and an approach similar to Manor Farm, involving pre-let backed construction. The company said it had early engagement with potential occupiers for the second site and that it was working through a broader data center opportunity set it described as exceeding one gigawatt.
In Q&A, executives also addressed the Blackstone transaction’s “reversionary bridge,” a mechanism that came with GBP 20 million of cash bridging passing rent at acquisition toward market-based ERVs over three years. Whitehead said the earnings release will be recognized in adjusted earnings over the next three financial years on a reducing annual basis, and management confirmed there is no clawback if ERVs are exceeded, meaning outperformance would benefit shareholders.
Management concluded by reiterating confidence in the medium-term earnings growth target and pointing to the combination of rental reversion, logistics development, and data centers as the foundation for its longer-term growth ambitions.
About Tritax Big Box REIT (LON:BBOX)
Tritax Big Box REIT plc (ticker: BBOX) is the largest listed investor in high-quality logistics warehouse assets and controls the largest logistics-focused land platform in the UK. BBOX is committed to delivering attractive and sustainable returns for Shareholders by investing in and actively managing existing built investments and land suitable for logistics development. The Company focuses on well-located, modern logistics assets, typically let to institutional-grade tenants on long-term leases with upward-only rent reviews and geographic and tenant diversification throughout the UK.
