Firm owns 4,000 homes in Dublin and Cork
Ires Reit offices in Dublin. Photo: Collins
Shares in Ireland’s biggest private landlord, Ires Reit, have slumped to an all-time low even as home prices continue to soar and interest rates trend downwards.
The drop will revive speculation the business could be broken up or sold off, given the huge and growing gap between the share price and the value of Ires’ property portfolio.
At the end of June this year, the Ires Reit portfolio was valued at €1.24bn. That’s far above the roughly €440m the stock market now values the company at. Ires had net debt of €585.2m at the end of last year but no debt maturities until April 2026.
The company’s shares have plunged 25pc so far this year even after a battering in 2023 and despite rising house prices.
Shares in the property investment firm sank to 83 cents apiece on Wednesday, well below the €1 flotation price in 2014.
The fall in its shares comes just months after the property firm, whose chief executive is Eddie Byrne, saw off a campaign by Canadian investor Vision Capital that aimed to revive the stock which consistently values the business far below the market price of its huge portfolio of apartments and houses.
In December last year, Vision Capital also called for a strategic review of the Irish firm to assess delisting or even selling its portfolio. Ires Reit controls nearly 4,000 apartments – primarily in Dublin, but also in Cork. Most are subject to rent control but are mostly made up of modern purpose-built blocks.
The firm has properties at locations such as The Marker and Bakers Yard in Dublin city centre. It also owns apartments at Beacon South Quarter in Sandyford and Charlestown in Finglas.
In its campaign as activist shareholder Vision Capital, which held a 5pc stake in Ires Reit, raised unhappiness with the performance of the stock and the disconnect with the underlying value of its assets.
It put forward resolutions to replace five of the nine Ires Reit directors.
But the two firms entered a ceasefire before the Ires Reit annual general meeting that saw the Ires board recommend that shareholders approve the appointment of two Vision Capital nominees as directors.
In February, Ires Reit also committed to undertaking a strategic review.
In August this year, it said that following “rigorous market testing”, a sale of the company or its assets was unlikely to maximise shareholder value not least given the challenge to sell occupied units.
The review did identify about 315 units suitable for disposal and expected to raise €110m to €115m over a three to five-year period.