Ediston (EPIC)

[Gerry557]

Tap seller???

Can someone educate me on this as Ive not come across it in the news but then again not been watching as closely last few weeks.

I did try to top up on Monday with some dividends and a free trade in iii but there were difficulties with their website and the suggestion to use a limit order instead didnt work.

I used another broker in the end to acquire them but it was mixed feelings. No free trade and wrong account but there were more funds in that account so bought a few more than was initially planning. Had a look today to see if iii was working again, it is but the SP has jumped a tad

I wasnt really looking to buy just now as Feb/Mar normally seem a good times to add when there tends to be a bit of a dip and ULVR also seems to dip then too

[SKYSHIP]

Gerry557 - tap-seller is the name given to an institution, who, unable to place a line of stock outside the Market (always the preferred route) resorts to selling in the Market. They become an iceberg. They sell 100k at a price; and once that has gone, they release another 100k at the same price...and again, and again etcetc.

Forget any market timing with conventional trading companies like ULVR. Buy a REIT when the price is distorted by institutional action. In the case of EPIC it has been standing out as a great BUY due to the lack of the recovery bounce seen widely elsewhere in the sector; combined with the Fundamentals of sector allocation, discount and yield.

Today saw an encouraging move better, which may indicate the seller is exhausted or holding off. in recent times the sp has sold off toward the close. Not so today... Fingers xxed!

[Gerry557]

Thanks @skyship.

I was looking for info on who that tap seller was and why they are selling.

I'd not come across the story and was lookong for the bigger picture.

[SKYSHIP]

Gerry - sorry, no idea who the seller is/was. Of course, we may get a Holdings RNS at some later stage.

[Gerry557]

Thanks Skyship.

Where did you find out the info.

[pje16]

I suspect ii will sort out the missing portion of the EPIC dividend soonish. I've seen similar delays with PHP when they've distributed a dividend as an ordinary and a PID.

Isn't that only in a SIPP/ISA? Non sheltered I think you'd lose 20%. my holdings are sheltered and sometimes paid 2 dividends a few days apart 2nd being the reclaimed tax element.

I have held Epic through Interactive Investor since August last year In my ISA
All payments have been the full amount in one go

[richfool]

There is an existing thread about EPIC, ironically started by Skyship, back in July 2021. So I have reported it suggesting that the two are merged.
viewtopic.php?p=426193#p426193

(The OP was along similar lines.)

Note July 2021

Ediston (EPIC) - Anomalously cheap & a secure high yield…

The REIT sector, provided you get the timing right, is the gift that keeps on giving. My last recommendation was for BREI just 2 weeks ago; and that is already yielding a useful profit.

I top-sliced a few at 75.6p; and reinvested the proceeds to top-up my holding in Ediston Property Inv. (EPIC).

EPIC is one of the smaller players with a MCap of just £143m. It is also pretty unique as it majors on Retail Warehouse – 66% of the portfolio. NB: This is NOT Retail. Retail Warehouse is a separate sector – out of town retail parks have done well during the pandemic as they have proved a popular shopping venue.

EPIC at 67.8p trades at a 19.5% discount to the 84.26p Mar’21 NAV. On the 5.0p annual dividend (paid monthly at the rate of 0.4167p) the yield is a securely covered 7.37%. It is the Board’s intention to increase the dividend and will consider the position after the 30th Sept year end. An increase to 5.5p looks pretty well baked in, so increasing the yield to a highly attractive 8.11%. In the meantime we will see an NAV & Trading Update later this month.

If you compare the charts of EPIC against others such as BREI, SLI, RGL & SREI you will see that they haven’t recouped the Mar’20 losses quite as well. There is a reason for this. A major shareholder has been reducing its stake through the Market – a tap seller holding the price down at around the 68p level for the past 8months. They held 14.5% in Sept’19; 10.51% in May’21 and still 6.13% at the end of June – 12.9m shares.

“Since the issue of the shares to Stadium Group in relation to the portfolio acquisition in December 2017, an orderly conduct agreement has been in place over the holdings of Stadium entities detailed above. Although the agreement that the vendor would not dispose of these shares expired on 8 December 2018, Stadium Group is still bound by an agreement to only dispose of their shares in an orderly and considered manner and after providing three business days’ notice to the Company. It is on this basis that Stadium has operated.”

A buyback of that stock is now unlikely due to LTV reasons; and the discount level at c20% would not really impact the NAV very much in that it would only add c1.2p. So the best outcome would be for the Company to find a couple of institutional holders to take the stock and remove the tap. Until then, EPIC is likely to flat-line…but provide a very healthy yield as it does so.

A removal of the tap would likely see the shares make a good move forward. IMO, without the overhang, they should be trading @ c80p.

Note the above quote is from July 2021.

[SKYSHIP]

XD the monthly dividend of 0.4167p

[Gerry557]

Yes will be nice to see a bump in the monthly dividend due to those extra shares. Fortunately it doesn't make much difference to the share price.

Some of those 12% yielders that pay quarterly might see a 3% drop on ex divi day. It might be something to watch out for. See if you can buy on the cheap although the SP is likely to rise a bit in anticipation.

[spiderbill]

Topped up yesterday (in an ISA this time), which brings it up to median (although that's a bitmisleading due to a few minnows which drag the figure down). If it rises as hoped I'll probably sell the non-ISA holding and take the profit, and leave the ISA holding to run.

cheers
Spiderbill

[Gerry557]

Spider, can you allow the dividends to acrue in the ISA and buy within and sell those that are outside over time. I know the tax thing might not suit you.

Checks SP, oohh down a tad today. Is that just cos its Friday and people want to take some cash off the table.

If it drops again and interactive investor can get its act together (more changes and improvements planned) and actually allows trading I might get some more. That is if RGL doesn't get topped up instead.

[spiderbill]

Spider, can you allow the dividends to acrue in the ISA and buy within and sell those that are outside over time. I know the tax thing might not suit you.

Checks SP, oohh down a tad today. Is that just cos its Friday and people want to take some cash off the table.

If it drops again and interactive investor can get its act together (more changes and improvements planned) and actually allows trading I might get some more. That is if RGL doesn't get topped up instead.

Yes that's pretty much the plan. This week's buy has exhausted the accumulated divis in the ii account for now, but the HSBC account is getting nearer to the point of it being worthwhile to make a purchase again, so we'll see what EPIC is doing when it gets there.

I'm guessing just noise and not much trading.

Yeah, waiting with bated breath to see the "new look". RGL is already 4% of my shares portfolio so I'm a wee bit cautious on buying any more. If it recovers then it'll be well up towards the top end of my holdings - still can't believe I'm 38% down on capital. (But then there's lots of things in the UK that deserve the Victor Meldrew phrase ) REITs in general have been out of favour the last wee while so hopefully we're due an upturn.

cheers
Spiderbill

[Gerry557]

I think interest rate rises and talk of a ression knocked back most REITS.

I was expecting things to drop in the new year and wasn't planning to buy anything till feb/Mar. Although there is still time for the plan to work, currently things are going well in the markets and REITS have been improving. RGL jumped nearly 5% on Friday afternoon for some reason.

Capital does move up and down, I'm underwater too but the dividend helps, think I received another one last week. Topping up brings the average down and increases the yield if you can maintain a balance. Hopefully things will improve in time and the extra shares will help with the turnaround.

Of course, things could go along the worst case scenario and my cheap buys will look expensive.

[richfool]

Yes, I would concur. The prospect for REIT's over this last year has tended to be related to the prospect of interest rate rises and perhaps how soon the rises will taper off. I have recently topped up both WHR and PHP in anticipation of interest rates not rising too much further, at worst about 2 x 0.50%

Re Regional REIT, I would think there are still ongoing concerns about the prospects for offices, which RGL has strongly committed to.

In the sector I hold: API, EPIC, PHP and WHR.

[scrumpyjack]

With the apparent substantial discount to NAV and EPIC being in an attractive sector of the property market, one wonders whether there might be a private equity bid as the interest rate outlook becomes clearer?

The IC had an article on private equity being keen on buying out REITS last year
https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/ne ... o-private/

[SKYSHIP]

IMO a bid from PE highly unlikely as way too small. A bid from elsewhere quite possible; and most welcome!

[Gerry557]

Interesting article.

The only REIT I'm currently concerned about is TOWN. It's about to fail to qualify as a Reit. I wonder if that is about to go private. Most probably by the main family shareholder.

[SKYSHIP]

CBRE - Real estate Market Outlook 2023:

https://www.cbre.co.uk/-/media/project/ ... k-2023.pdf

[scrumpyjack]

I see it is effectively being put up for sale!

https://www.investegate.co.uk/ediston-p ... 0051405T/#

The board feels they are too small and so have appointed Investec to carry out a strategic review. Probably will result in being bought out or merging.

Hence today's bounce in the share price

[Gerry557]

Most REITs seem to be going into one main element and Epic picked warehouses so I can't see someone who has just sold warehouses and moved into offices wanting to buy them. The multi owners like to keep certain ratios so might push their limits but could sell and recycle I suppose over a time period.

It will be interesting to see who might be a fit or who would want to buy