Investment case

Roadside Real Estate is the first London-listed business to focus solely on roadside real estate asset management and development.

Led by an experienced management and property team and supported by a high-quality Board, the Company is building a large scale institutional-grade portfolio of assets.

The Company’s strategy focuses on acquiring and developing sites where it can deliver its convenience offer to consumers, featuring a mix of Drive Thru, Foodvenience, Trade Counter and Local Logistics tenants, enhanced with ultra-fast EV charging infrastructure.

The Company’s team is one of the UK’s most experienced in its chosen asset class and over the last 15 years has developed 100,000s of sq ft.

Roadside listed on AIM in January 2020 as Barkby Group, refocusing its strategy on the opportunities identified by management in ESG-compliant roadside real estate following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Roadside real estate

Roadside real estate assets are prominent, well-located sites fronting major roads, targeting convenience focussed footfall with high turnover of customers. Occupiers typically offer some form of convenience to consumers, e.g. Drive Thrus or Trade Counters.

Rental terms are comparatively low compared to occupiers’ wider estates, creating opportunities to increase rental income as occupiers face supply constraints when growing their roadside footprint. Lease terms are typically between 10 and 25 years on strong covenants with nationally recognised brands.

Consequently, roadside assets offer exposure to resilient, long-term income, underpinned by: changing consumer habits and the embedded nature of their flexible, digitised working patterns; demand for reliable EV charging infrastructure; efforts by local councils to address urban congestion; and the accelerated adoption of e-commerce.

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Asset management and development

Asset ownership in the sector is fragmented, creating a consolidation opportunity to benefit from economies of scale in asset management. The property team has built strong relationships in the sector with motivated vendors who are attracted by the Company’s ability to rapidly transact assets.

On the tenant side, the Company has developed a deep understanding of its target occupiers, their needs and growth plans. This enables the Company to implement proactive asset management operations and develop diverse income streams in addition to de-risking new developments through pre-lets and a thorough understanding of local planning priorities.

The EV opportunity

Growing ownership of new and used EVs has increased pressure on the UK’s limited network of public charging points.

Alongside its focus on increasing asset sustainability and ESG performance, the Company’s investment criteria focuses on sites where EV charging hubs can be installed.

EV charging attracts footfall, increases dwell-time and helps tenants to increase sales performance, leading to higher tenant satisfaction, rental growth and additional amenity for the community surrounding the Company’s sites.

Diverse income streams

Roadside benefits from a diverse range of income streams, including:

  • Rent from occupiers of its wholly-owned assets, income from on-site advertising opportunities and rent and profit shares from EV charging infrastructure installed by its charging partners
  • A share of rent from occupiers of assets held within its joint venture with Meadow Partners LLP.
  • Asset management and development fees on assets held within the joint venture

Alongside these predominantly long-term income streams the Company also has the opportunity to achieve capital appreciation and a performance fee from the sale of assets.

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