The Atlas High Income Property Fund had a steady month gaining +0.7% with share prices continuing to recover from the dark days of early 2020 where the market was questioning the value of most classes of real estate. Over the month, several Trusts in the Fund provided positive trading updates, showing that rent collections from tenants are now back to pre-pandemic levels. Twelve months ago, commercial landlords faced government legislation preventing the eviction of tenants not paying rent if deemed to be impacted by Covid-19.
Concerns about inflation in the medium term was a key theme over April. The Portfolio is hedged well against rising inflation with rents and toll revenues inflation-linked. Indeed, as a legacy of the GFC where many companies struggled to refinance debt, most Trusts in the Portfolio now have long term fixed-rate debt. Rising inflation is likely to see higher profits as revenues grow faster than interest payments
Go to Monthly Newsletters for a more detailed discussion of the listed property market and the fund’s strategy going into 2021.