Helical H2 2026 Earnings Report

Helical EPS Results

• Actual EPS: GBX 4.60
• Consensus EPS: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Helical Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $33.25 million
• Expected Revenue: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Helical Announcement Details

• Quarter: H2 2026
• Date: 5/22/2026
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Friday, May 22, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 4:00AM ET

Helical (LON:HLCL) is a central London development focused real estate business listed on the London Stock Exchange. We create design-led, sustainable and inspiring spaces. We have a dynamic and experienced team with a broad skill set able to deliver optimal solutions and enhanced value through innovative thinking and in depth market knowledge. Our extensive track record in joint venture structuring and working in partnership underpins our reputation as one of London’s leading development specialists.

Helical H2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Helical completed the £333 million forward sale of 100 New Bridge Street to State Street, and the company said this unlocked a significant realized development profit that supports a larger shareholder return.
• Positive Sentiment: The board is proposing a total return of 16.4 pence per share for the year, including a special capital return and buybacks, the company’s largest return since 2004.
• Positive Sentiment: Operating momentum remains strong at The Bower, where AI-driven demand has driven 30,000 sq ft of new lettings, with another 20,000 sq ft under offer and vacancy expected to fall to 3.4% once completed.
• Positive Sentiment: Helical continues to de-risk and fund its pipeline, including a £220 million development facility for Delta Paddington and progress at Southwark, where forward funding and forward sales leave the group taking mainly delivery risk rather than market or operational risk.
• Neutral Sentiment: Financially, EPRA earnings doubled and NTA rose to £3.51 per share, while pro forma LTV falls to below 21% after the 100 New Bridge Street sale and capital return, giving the company balance sheet flexibility for new opportunities.

Presentation

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Helical's results presentation for the full year ending the 31st of March 2026. Speaking today, I'm joined by our CFO, James Moss, and Rob Sims, our CIO. The agenda here sets out what we will cover during the presentation, and we'll take questions at the end. I'm pleased to report that we have had another extremely productive year operationally as we deliver on the strategy we set out two years ago. At the beginning of our financial period, we exchanged contracts on the forward sale of 100 New Bridge Street to State Street Corporation, which was one of the standout transactions of 2025. Practical completion was reached a week ago, and the sale completed this week. State Street are delighted with their new building, and we are equally proud of not only the final product, but the excellent relationship that has been forged.

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

At Southwark, where we pivoted from a relatively equity-heavy office-led scheme to an equity-light PBSA-led scheme, we exchanged contracts on the forward sale of the affordable housing block to Southwark Borough Council and the forward funding of the adjoining PBSA block with our partners, Places for London. Rob will run through the details of both transactions. I would stress that we are taking delivery risk and not market or operational risk through our forward funding structures. Ahead of the site acquisition at Paddington, we secured a GBP 220 million development facility from PIMCO, fixing the swap rate at a favorable time and with margin step downs linked to development and letting milestones. Following the purchase of the site, we signed a construction contract with Mace. Work is now well underway.

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

At The Bower, the resurgence of the tech occupier market driven by AI, which we highlighted at the half year, has continued with significant momentum. We have achieved 30,000 sq ft of new lettings, a further 20,000 sq ft is under offer, and re-gears of 50,000 sq ft are currently in legals. We've been working with Places for London on new office opportunities, and last month we were delighted to receive unanimous approval to our planning application for a new 55,000 sq ft scheme on Charterhouse Street opposite the new London Museum. Terms have been agreed for its acquisition, and we look forward to concluding the transaction shortly. During the year, we had 700,000 sq ft of office space under construction. We look forward to completing Brettenham House in August and 10 King William Street in December of this year.

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

Having now completed 100 New Bridge Street, we will be looking to start the main construction works at Southwark once we have secured Gateway 2 approval later this year. Turning to the results. The progress made has increased our EPRA earnings and moved our NTA forward. As promised, and as part of our consistent approach to capital allocation, I'm pleased to announce that we are proposing a significant return of equity from the surplus realized development profit on the sale of 100 New Bridge Street, taking the total proposed return for the year to GBP 0.164 per share, a significant increase on the prior year and our largest return since 2004. James will provide further detail on this and the wider financial results shortly. In terms of the office occupational market in Central London, the flight to quality continues, with occupiers taking more space rather than less.

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

Expansions outpacing contractions have meant a net absorption of 3.8 million sq ft, the highest level in six years. Active demand is up 57% on the long-term average, transactions under offer are up by 60%. Letting activity is more focused on the larger occupiers, whilst traditional sector SMEs adopt a more cautious and cost-conscious approach. Artificial intelligence is driving a new wave of demand. In the first quarter of 2026, AI companies accounted for approximately 20% of take-up. Cushman & Wakefield's London Moves research study predicted that over the next three years, AI demand will continue to account for up to 20% of annual Central London take-up. This is from a standing start of pretty much zero. The locational focus of these businesses tends to be in the arc running from King's Cross through to Old Street, Shoreditch, and Liverpool Street.

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

We're certainly benefiting from this wave of activity at The Bower. A momentum seems to be building with the speed of leasing transactions increasing, too. The more established US companies tend to grow from West Coast to East and then to London, where they focus on campuses that can meet their growing needs and provide the all-important access to talent. Newer homegrown startups, meanwhile, transition from serviced offices to fitted and managed solutions and then scale to larger floor plates with bespoke fit outs, and we continue to adapt our offerings to meet these needs. Artificial intelligence is likely to further exacerbate the bifurcation in the office market with what Deloitte recently termed as the digital divide between highly connected, secure, and intelligent buildings offering resilience and commanding a significant premium, and those that don't.

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

The supply of vacant office space in Central London remains reasonably elevated, the supply being concentrated in less popular sub-markets, smaller floor plates, poorly connected areas, or in compromised buildings. The core sub-markets, meanwhile, have a severe shortage of quality buildings, and Cushman are forecasting a 15 million undersupply by 2030. With few distressed opportunities to gain the right entry pricing, viability continues to remain challenging, with elevated construction and finance costs. New build schemes require extensive justification in an environment of retrofit-first planning policies, and the contractor market looks to long-term repeat business relationships with developers, allowing competitive pricing throughout the supply chain. Given the problems in navigating the delivery of complex development projects, it is not surprising that construction starts have declined 35% on an annual basis, with a pronounced supply squeeze expected to 2030, and in my view, likely well beyond that.

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

If you are developing best-in-class Central London office projects in undersupplied markets, this is the most favorable occupational market from a supply and demand perspective I've ever experienced. With regard to capital markets, recent geographical uncertainty has undoubtedly paused what had been a very encouraging sentiment at the beginning of the year. There has, however, been over GBP 1 billion of office investment transactions closed since the start of the Middle East conflict, with minimal and often no price adjustment. With GBP 2.7 billion of deals currently under offer and a number of notable GBP 100 million deals being tested in the market, it will be interesting to see the conversion rate and the ultimate pricing of those transactions. Given the repricing of the sector and the favorable occupational dynamics, the fundamentals of the London office market remain very attractive for the best quality stock.

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

I will now hand over to James to cover the financial details in more detail.

[James Moss, CFO at Helical]

Thank you, Matthew. Good morning. Matthew has highlighted the significant progress and milestones achieved throughout the year. A number of these events have an immediate impact to the group's returns, such as the forward sale of 100 New Bridge Street. The impact of other items, such as the acquisition and funding of Paddington, or getting a planning consent for 63 Charterhouse Street, will be realized later, but are key steps along the development pathway. As a result of the progress made, our EPRA earnings have doubled and the NTA has grown. It will be through letting up the development pipeline that we will drive future significant financial returns, and we are very well-placed to be able to achieve this over the next few years.

[James Moss, CFO at Helical]

As you would expect, the acquisition of Delta Paddington and the CapEx spent across the portfolio increased the LTV, and that was up to 36% at the year-end. Following the sale of 100 New Bridge Street, and after taking into account the capital return, this falls to below 21%. Our successful sale of GBP 245 million of investment property last year allowed us to rebalance the capital of the business, enabling us to take full advantage of the exciting development pipeline. This has resulted in a significant increase in our development profits to GBP 4.9 million, but a reduction in net rental income to GBP 15.4 million. As part of our focus on maximizing returns, we undertook to reduce our cost base, and this year reflects the full savings from this exercise, with our admin expense falling by over GBP 2 million to GBP 8.8 million.

[James Moss, CFO at Helical]

Net finance costs have fallen as we have shifted the portfolio from investment assets, sorry, where they are expensed, into developments where these costs are capitalized. The net impact is an increased EPRA profit of GBP 5.5 million. We achieved a net valuation gain of GBP 2.7 million, partially offset by the fall in fair value of our interest rate swaps of GBP 2.3 million, resulting in an IFRS profit after tax of GBP 5.7 million. Our EPRA NTA of GBP 3.48 at the beginning of the year was increased by the earnings per share of GBP 0.045 and the revaluation gains from our development activity of GBP 0.026. The payment of the prior year final dividend of GBP 0.035 and the interim dividend of GBP 0.015 partially offset these gains, resulting in an EPRA NTA of GBP 3.51.

[James Moss, CFO at Helical]

Our dividend policy is to pay, as a minimum, the PID required by our REIT status. This will be supplemented by a share of the realized development profits that are surplus to the requirements of the business. After taking into account our capital allocation priorities that Matthew will cover later. We are proposing a final PID for the year of GBP 0.01, which takes the total to GBP 0.025, up from GBP 0.015 last year. As we promised last year, with the completion of the sale of 100 New Bridge Street this week, we propose to return GBP 17 million, or GBP 0.139 per share. In determining this quantum, the board was mindful of a number of key priorities. Firstly, managing our gearing. The majority of the GBP 95 million proceeds will be used to reduce leverage, paying down the RCF. Second, maintaining our balance sheet strength.

[James Moss, CFO at Helical]

We seek to retain a minimum level of net assets to undertake complex development opportunities, particularly with Places for London, and to source accretive project-level finance, hopefully from debt and equity partners. Based on our current development pipeline, we consider this minimum to be GBP 400 million, but this will be reassessed continuously as we de-risk the existing portfolio and progress new schemes. Finally, given the favorite market dynamics Matthew highlighted earlier, we are confident of adding new opportunities to the pipeline. We will seek to retain sufficient funds to be able to take advantage of these quickly. We consider a return of GBP 17 million strikes the right balance across these priorities.

[James Moss, CFO at Helical]

Having taken into account feedback from our stakeholders and our share price discount to NTA, we are proposing to split this between a GBP 12 million capital return, using the well-trodden path of the B share scheme, and GBP 5 million of share buybacks. The combination of the PID, the capital return, and share buybacks take the total return for the year to GBP 0.164. We have exercised the first option of our GBP 210 million RCF, with the second option to be exercised over this summer. We have also secured finance for the development of Delta Paddington. Following a highly competitive process, PIMCO was selected, with them having previously funded The JJ Mack Building and 100 New Bridge Street, both now repaid. The terms agreed are accretive and reflect an 85 basis point reduction on the margin retrieved at 10 King William Street.

[James Moss, CFO at Helical]

This improvement was a result of growing lender confidence in high quality, well-located offices that are being developed by sponsors with a strong track record. The pari passu nature of the structure allows us to make our equity work harder and drive the scheme's returns. The loan benefits from significant margin step downs to reward letting and development progress, and the 4.5-year term has a one-year extension option. Our initial intention was to sign the loan alongside the main contract at the end of March this year. Working with Places for London and PIMCO, we were able to bring this forward to February to align with the deferred site purchase. This turns out to be more valuable than just minimizing our equity, as we fixed at 3.6%, just a few weeks before the war started and rates moved out by over 70 basis points.

[James Moss, CFO at Helical]

This slide shows the current and expected overall debt position. With interest rates remaining stubbornly high, we benefit from all our borrowings being fully hedged and an extended maturity of four years. The average cost of our RCFs remains low at 3%, and we have GBP 288 million of cash and undrawn facilities to fund our ongoing and future development activity. We remain committed to maintaining our balance sheet strength, and since 2021, we've sold nearly GBP 800 million of assets. These sales have allowed us to contain our LTV throughout the period. With a current LTV of 21%, we are well-positioned to build the pipeline, take advantage of new opportunities, or manage a protracted war scenario. Helical is a capital growth stock, and we seek total accounting returns in excess of 10%.

[James Moss, CFO at Helical]

As highlighted earlier, our focus on development means that our returns are linked to achieving milestone events, and this results in a lumpy profit recognition. The returns from our standing investment portfolio continue to cover the group's admin and finance costs and provide the payment of the PID. With the lettings of The Bower, these are set to increase going forward. The investment returns are supplemented by profits from our development activities, which have seen a significant increase during the year. As we let Brettenham House and start on Southwark, these will continue to grow. Finally, we expect to capture material gains as we develop and let our joint venture office pipeline. In total, we believe there's GBP 84 million of value to come, excluding yield movements, and this could increase to GBP 116 million if we achieve rents 5% above business plan, and almost GBP 140 million if we hit 10%.

[James Moss, CFO at Helical]

Rob will now take you through our progress at each asset and their expected contribution to our future returns.

[Rob Sims, Chief Investment Officer at Helical]

Today, I'll take you through the key highlights from our portfolio. We'll first look at the development projects, where we have made progress across our extensive pipeline, de-risking the near GBP 1 billion worth of schemes we currently have under construction, recycling capital, and identifying profitable new opportunities. I will start with 100 New Bridge Street, where we reached practical completion on our best-in-class office redevelopment earlier this month. This comprehensive refurbishment was delivered over an accelerated 24-month program with over 1 million man-hours worked, and was completed within the budget agreed upon formation of the joint venture with Orion. Utilizing our experience, we were able to unlock 30,000 sq ft of additional net internal area, which has ultimately equated to over GBP 50 million in value. On Wednesday, we handed the building over to State Street, who will be opening their new headquarters in 2027.

[Rob Sims, Chief Investment Officer at Helical]

Overall, the project is a strong affirmation of Helical's strategy to deliver high-quality HQ buildings capable of occupation by the largest and most forward-thinking businesses. The handover also marks completion of the forward sale. The transaction achieved a headline price of GBP 333 million, equivalent to GBP 2,000/sq ft on a topped-up basis, placing it as one of the largest single lot size transactions in London in recent years. We will now conclude the arrangements under the JV waterfall, enabling the final profit shown on this slide to be realized. Turning to Brettenham House, redevelopment works of this 1930s building are now at an advanced stage, with completion anticipated in August. During the period, we achieved sectional completion on two floors and removed the external scaffolding so the outstanding river views from the newly created terraces can be fully appreciated.

[Rob Sims, Chief Investment Officer at Helical]

The fact the building is almost 100 years old has not stopped us from targeting the highest sustainability, wellness, and performance standards, showing that with skill, heritage assets can be repositioned into spaces meeting modern occupiers' exacting requirements. We've received encouraging interest in the building during the period, with negotiations progressing with one party for a number of floors at the top of the building. Active marketing of the remaining space will commence over the summer. From a capital efficiency perspective, Brettenham House is delivering under an equity-light structure, which is projected to generate a 2x return on Helical's GBP 12.5 million investment, alongside the GBP 2.5 million development management fee already received. With the main contract final account agreed in the period, the ultimate return will now be dependent upon the rental performance of the property, and we are increasingly encouraged by its prospects.

[Rob Sims, Chief Investment Officer at Helical]

Positively, we are seeing this bespoke deal structure provide a framework for other potential JV discussions, where landowners are seeking aligned partners who can bring expertise to assist with complex projects. Matthew will touch upon these later. Next to 10 King William Street, a 142,000 sq ft new build office development in the heart of the city. Progress has continued at pace since construction topped out in January. Façade works are complete, and the internal fit-out is progressing well. We've even chosen our feature tree, Chris and Hannah, who have pride of place in our reception. The project remains on program for practical completion in December, and from a cost perspective, the main contract final account is now agreed, with all CapEx to come funded under the HSBC facility.

[Rob Sims, Chief Investment Officer at Helical]

The delivery of 10 King William Street feels particularly well-timed as there continues to be an extreme scarcity of high-quality new office space within the City of London. In fact, CBRE recently noted that there are currently only six new floors of 20,000 sq ft or more available in the city core, to which we will be adding a further five shortly. Importantly, on the ground, we are seeing increasingly strong letting interest. In recent weeks, there have been almost daily viewings, and terms been currently issued to a number of parties, accounting for all floors.

[Rob Sims, Chief Investment Officer at Helical]

Occupiers continue to take time to ensure that they do make the correct decisions for their businesses, but we remain confident, six months prior to PC and with rents continuing to rise, that we will be able to convert this interest in the coming months, enabling outperformance of our base return expectations, as shown on this slide. At Southwark, the joint venture exchanged contracts on a forward funding agreement for the PBSA element of the scheme with Places for London's own newly established operational platform in February. The transaction valued the 429-unit PBSA building at over GBP 200 million on completion, achieving a market-leading per key rate. Simultaneously, we forward sold the affordable housing element, which will deliver 44 homes to Southwark London Borough Council. This is a strong example of our equity-light strategy.

[Rob Sims, Chief Investment Officer at Helical]

We've revised the original office consent to deliver an optimized scheme that represents the highest value use for this exceptionally well-located site. The forward funding structure means the joint venture is not required to commit any further equity, and we are targeting in excess of a 3x return on our investment. Importantly, we're not seeking to operate student accommodation, either here or at future potential sites such as White City. As a result of the transaction, the joint venture is only responsible for the delivery of the scheme, with the realization of the forecast profit shown on this slide dependent upon cost control and program maintenance. Helical also stands to receive an additional promote payment of up to GBP 8 million over and above the profit stated here, which will be dependent upon the creation of additional capital value for the forward funder.

[Rob Sims, Chief Investment Officer at Helical]

The first tranche of the profit, Helical's share being GBP 10.2 million, will be paid upon receipt of Gateway 2 approval later this year. At the same time, we'll be fully reimbursed for all costs incurred to date. The balance of the profit will be determined and paid upon practical completion. With listed building consent now secured and demolition underway, we have substantially de-risked the development. We now await Gateway 2 approval, which will enable main works to commence in the second half of 2026. Completion of both buildings is targeted ahead of the start of the 2029/2030 academic year. Now to the newly branded Delta Paddington, our flagship office development positioned directly above the eastern canalside entrance to Paddington Station. It will deliver over 240,000 sq ft of scarce new office accommodation across 15 floors, offering future occupiers exceptional connectivity and a vibrant canalside setting, accessed directly from reception.

[Rob Sims, Chief Investment Officer at Helical]

Sustainability is central to the scheme, and we have sought to push ourselves to achieve even higher standards than before. The building has already been recognized as the U.K.'s second highest BREEAM Outstanding design score of 97.4%, and we are confident of achieving a rare NABERS 5.5 star rating. During the period, our joint venture formally completed the acquisition of the site for GBP 55 million. At the same time, we signed the development financing package, ensuring the scheme is fully funded. This is a significant milestone as occupiers are placing an increasing importance on delivery certainty, as well as the track record of the developer when making early commitments. In March, we signed the main construction contract with Mace, securing a fixed price contract, which reduces our exposure to any prolonged inflationary cost pressures as much as possible.

[Rob Sims, Chief Investment Officer at Helical]

They will take possession of the site later this year, following completion of the initial enabling works package being undertaken by Keltbray. As this video highlights, this is a logistically challenged site, but works are well underway to form the core and the basement, and practical completion is targeted in Q3 2028, a point of particularly low forecast supply across London. A key barrier to new development remains a limited and highly selective top-tier contractor market. Helical prides itself on having strong relationships throughout the supply chain, and our track record of committing to schemes provides counterparties with confidence we will execute, thereby enabling us to work with the very best teams as we will here, where some of the core team members have worked on four consecutive projects for us.

[Rob Sims, Chief Investment Officer at Helical]

We're pleased to be able to further expand the pipeline with 63 Charterhouse Street, the next development we plan to bring forward within the Places for London joint venture. Utilizing the JV's unique ability to unlock operational land, we identified a prominent gap site on Charterhouse Street opposite the new London Museum. Just over a year ago, we began developing proposals for a new office building designed by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, who delivered our hugely successful The JJ Mack Building just down the road. Having engaged proactively with Islington Council over a number of pre-app meetings, we were pleased to receive unanimous planning consent in April. The building will provide 55,000 sq ft of high-quality office accommodation over ground plus five stories, all within 100 m of Farringdon's Elizabeth line station.

[Rob Sims, Chief Investment Officer at Helical]

Our next step is to conclude the site acquisition into the joint venture. The agreed purchase price is below GBP 2 million. The JV is taking time to fully develop the scheme's design. I'll turn to the investment portfolio, where we've seen improving occupational demand, as noted at our half year presentation, translating to tangible lettings, strengthening the overall income profile. At The Loom, whilst vacancy remains elevated, we are seeing encouraging signs that the asset's relative value compared to more central submarkets is attracting tenants, with one new letting completed and two further units going under offer since the year-end. We also renewed 13,000 sq ft of existing leases at a premium to ERV, including that of the largest tenant. Given the nature of The Loom, there is the opportunity for tenants to move internally to satisfy their own change in business requirements. Encouragingly, this flexibility enabled four tenants to move, increasing rents by 11% compared to the unit's ERVs.

[Rob Sims, Chief Investment Officer at Helical]

The Bower continues to experience a notable uptick in demand, in particular from AI and innovation-led businesses, building on the established cluster around the Silicon Roundabout. This has translated into strong letting progress during the year. This slide illustrates how the 30,000 sq ft of completing lettings has materially improved occupancy. Once the 20,000 sq ft currently under offer completes, the vacancy across The Bower will reduce to just 3.4%. This has added GBP 4 million to our contracted rent. Looking at the specifics, in the tower, we exchanged contracts to let the fifth and sixth floors to Incident.io, and the lease will complete in early June. In addition, we've let the third floor to a technology platform, meaning all of the historic WeWork space has now been successfully repositioned.

[Rob Sims, Chief Investment Officer at Helical]

Further up the building, the 12th floor is under offer for an 11-year term, and the 15th floor is seeing interest from both new and existing occupiers. The benefits of the shorter-term managed solution have also been felt, with the largest unit being let after the year-end, generating a further 0.5 million of contracted income. Encouragingly, we are progressing a number of regear discussions. In fact, three floors in the tower are due to complete today. Re-gears on another two floors in the warehouse are close to agreement, and the same occupier will also be taking the vacant seventh floor as part of a deal to accommodate internal headcount growth. Tenant retention is vital, and it's positive a number of businesses are seeking to extend their stay.

[Rob Sims, Chief Investment Officer at Helical]

When one takes into account the scheme's extensive public realm and vibrant culture offering with all of the retail units fully let, it is clear that The Bower continues to provide a compelling proposition to tenants that is hard to beat elsewhere in the market. Looking ahead, we're confident that our strategy at The Bower to provide a diverse range of offerings, ranging from Cat A to fully fitted spaces, will continue to respond to tenants' requirements, thereby ensuring value is preserved and optionality retained for future capital recycling. In summary, we've made considerable progress across the portfolio in the period, which provides the foundations for us now to realize significant value in the foreseeable future.

[Rob Sims, Chief Investment Officer at Helical]

I'll hand back to Matthew.

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

Thank you, Rob. I wanted to touch on how we look at capital allocation. Clearly, our priority is maintaining sufficient balance sheet strength to ensure we can meet the future needs of the business. We also need to have a balance sheet that will permit us to obtain development financing on attractive terms from our relationship lenders. We have a valuable joint venture relationship with Places for London, which provides access to exciting new opportunities. As part of that agreement, there are net asset requirements, and as we're delivering complex projects above and alongside transport assets. The requirements reflect the size and number of projects we have ongoing at any one time, and we will always want to make sure we have sufficient headroom to deliver the schemes at the optimum time from a market perspective.

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

Our loan-to-value is also a very important consideration when determining capital allocation, and we will seek to deleverage as appropriate. The returns possible through our joint venture projects and the fees and promotes from our equity-light transactions will be carefully analyzed together with the number of opportunities we are seeing and are able to transact upon. As James has stated, we will continue to pay out the PID, but we will look at returns to shareholders either by way of share buybacks, special dividends, or capital returns from surplus realized development profits while remaining cognizant that the requirement and needs of the business are gearing levels and the returns we can make from new opportunities. Given the commentary about new opportunities, I thought it useful as a reminder to talk about the nature of the transactions that we continue to focus on.

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

Having developed over 10 million sq ft over the last 30 years with 47 different joint venture partners, every deal is bespoke. I try to categorize here typical transactions and structures. We will look to work in joint venture with capital partners, where we acquire opportunities either on or off market, as we have done recently with Ashby Capital, The JJ Mack Building, and Orion Capital Managers at 100 New Bridge Street. We will also continue to bring forward new office projects in our JV with Places for London, as we are at 10 King William Street and at Delta Paddington, and potentially with other building owners. In both instances, we would wish to target leverage returns of +15%. We will seek to deploy equity light structures where we work with owners of office buildings and bring our development expertise.

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

Rather than purely fee-based development management, we put equity into the project so that we have a proper alignment of interest with our partners, for which we are rewarded through a promote structure. We have similarly taken office projects to alternative use, such as at Southwark, and we would expect to contribute GBP 5 million or so to cover planning and design fees, but would importantly take delivery risk only and not market or operational risk. We will remain very much office focused in our equity convictions, but where opportunities present themselves to make equity multiples of +2x, we will certainly progress alternative uses. Many of you may recognize this slide from last year, and that is because our strategy hasn't changed.

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

In my first year as CEO, we recycled significant capital, executing the sales we needed to in order to deliver our current significant office development program into an undersupplied market. We're converting the letting interest at The Bower, which is benefiting hugely from the surge in tech and AI demand. Having secured a great result at 100 New Bridge Street, we look forward to achieving lettings at 10 King William Street, Brettenham House, and Delta Paddington. Our flexibility in pivoting to best value use is serving us well in our joint venture with Places for London as we build upon the success of Southwark. Meanwhile, we'll continue in that JV to bring forward exciting office projects like 63 Charterhouse Street.

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

We're having good conversations on other potential projects for our pipeline as our strategy and focus becomes better understood, building upon a 30-year track record of profitable developments in London for our partners. We can deliver substantial profits over the coming years, we remain absolutely focused on capital allocation and delivering for our shareholders.

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

Thank you for listening, we will now take questions. Tom, straight up there.

[Tom Musson, Director and Real Estate Equity Analyst at Berenberg]

Thanks. Morning. It's Tom Musson from Berenberg. Thank you for the presentation. Just on the use of proceeds from 100 New Bridge Street, there was maybe slightly more of it allocated to deleveraging than we might have thought a few months ago, but I think for good reason. Is this with a view to committing to running the business with structurally lower leverage, going forward than you have in the past, given the higher rate environment? How should we expect that 21% pro forma LTV evolves over the next 12 months?

[James Moss, CFO at Helical]

I think that's absolutely right. The war has, I think, rightly made us consider where we should put the money, and paying down the RCF is, we believe, is the right choice for now. In terms of ultimate guidance for LTV, we still want to contain it within 35%. We're willing to have debt in the joint ventures on the asset level, but we want to keep the debt at the wider group low. Where it's looking to go, I think we're looking to get up to, it should be around 30% in a year's time. Before the valuation gains.

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

We will continue to recycle capital as we go through the development process in order to make sure it is not raised at a group level.

[James Moss, CFO at Helical]

We're expecting GBP 18 million in when we get Gateway 2 for Southwark. A lot of the DM fee has actually been cash into the business as we go through.

[Ashnaa Vyas, Equity Research Associate at Deutsche Bank]

Thank you. Morning. Ashnaa Vyas from Deutsche Bank. You mentioned on your capital allocation slide the potential for capital returns. I just wanted to ask how we should think about those capital returns going forward. Should we expect those as and when you sell buildings? Is there anything in your current pipeline, whilst it might not work for all structures, is there anything you can envision running a similar process on?

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

I think the profits will be lumpy, and they will come through as buildings let up and as we also recycle assets in the portfolio. It's difficult to give explicit guidance on every year, but it will come through. You will be able to identify it, one would imagine, as you see the letting progress. In terms of the sort of new projects we've got, there's a number of opportunities that we're looking at at the moment. The reason why we've particularly focused on the equity light is not only because of the returns that we get to shareholders in terms of the equity multiples, it's also because there's not a huge amount of distress in the market. It's difficult to find those opportunities.

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

Actually partnering up with people who own the assets is a better way into those transactions. If we can align our interests properly, give them the expertise that they don't have, we find that's, for us, a fairly unique way of playing in the development cycle without actually owning the assets.

[Jonny Coubrough, Director of Building and Construction Research at Deutsche Bank]

Thank you. Jonny Coubrough, also Deutsche Bank. Could I ask on the forward sales, you mentioned you're only carrying delivery risk here. It would be useful to understand how you manage that in terms of, do you get a fixed price from the contractor, and also are there penalties for late delivery? How would they be impacted? Then also, probably a follow-up question on the leverage. Is also part of the thinking there that if you're doing more forward funds, and you mentioned Places for London having a net asset requirement, that you want to have a little less leverage in order to manage that?

[Rob Sims, Chief Investment Officer at Helical]

In terms of the procurement risk on Southwark, predominantly, there we will be obtaining a fixed price contract. We're in advanced discussions with a contractor there, and we'll look to sort of formalize that position over the summer months. We'll have standard delay penalties placed in that contract. We've also backed out, actually, in the forward funding agreement, quite a favorable regime for us with the forward funder. We're not overly exposed to sensitivities in the profit there for any sort of delay on the site.

[James Moss, CFO at Helical]

I think Yeah. Yes, you're right. The hurdle for Places is based on a net asset test rather than an absolute leverage test. Ultimately, we've got comfortable headroom at GBP 400 million over the tests. Now, the tests themselves vary with as we deliver projects. As we de-risk them, the hurdles fall. As we take on new opportunities, such as 63 and White City, they go up again. Very much part of our thinking is to ensure that we have comfortable headroom in the net assets over those hurdles.

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

The headroom's very comfortable.

[Jonny Coubrough, Director of Building and Construction Research at Deutsche Bank]

Perhaps just to follow up there, how visible is the pipeline on the PFL side for future opportunities?

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

We do get offered quite a few situations, some of which do make sense and some of which don't make sense from our perspective. A number of them could potentially be quite long term and involve sort of moving elements of the transport network. There are some things that we would prefer to get on with rather than get sucked into sort of a 10-year, 15-year sort of master planning project. We do see a reasonable number of projects. Some of them are more living based. I'd say the better office projects we've probably secured. There may be one or two others coming through. Certainly enough to keep us busy. At the moment, we tend to be able to cope easily with about up to about 1 million sq ft of construction at any one time.

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

Ones drop off and then new ones add on, and that feels about the right level. We certainly wouldn't want to scale up the team particularly to take on sort of much longer term projects because I don't feel that's the right for our business.

[Jonny Coubrough, Director of Building and Construction Research at Deutsche Bank]

Thanks.

[Matt Saperia, Real Estate Analyst at Peel Hunt]

Morning, it's Matt Saperia from Peel Hunt. Two questions. First one on Southwark. You talked about an GBP 8 million promote. Can you just talk us through what has to happen for you to secure that promote? The second question is on 10 King William Street. I think previously you talked about your expectation that it would end up being multi-let. Obviously, you've talked about some encouraging letting interest. Is that on a floor-by-floor basis, or have you got people interested in the whole? Could you get to a situation where there could be some sort of competition for the space?

[Rob Sims, Chief Investment Officer at Helical]

On Southwark, the forward funding agreement has a bespoke arrangement. It's unique to our Places for London joint venture, whereby the value that's created in the scheme in the second year, second academic year, will be assessed. The extent that there's been outperformance against the forward funders' base underwrite, we're able to benefit from 25% of the capital appreciation. We don't take any operational risk on the lease up, but we are able to benefit. There's no downside, but we are able to just benefit from that rental performance that they will ultimately receive. That's just to ensure true alignment as we hand over the building for them so they get the best operational performance in the long run.

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

Turning to the letting interest at 10 King William Street, I mean, by way of example, we responded to two RFPs this week, and we had a new inquiry that is pretty immediate for 100,000 sq ft requirement for an immediate overflow for a firm of U.S. lawyers. The RFPs, the majority of them tend to be for a minimum of two floors, sometimes up to four floors. We've got terms out to two parties on the basis of the whole building. A good level of interest, much more than the space that we've got to let. That's encouraging. It does feel at the moment it will ultimately be a game of musical chairs.

[Matt Saperia, Real Estate Analyst at Peel Hunt]

Thank you.

[Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO at Helical]

No questions from the room. No other questions? Thank you very much for coming. Very good to see you all.

Participants

Executives

• James Moss, CFO
• Matthew Bonning-Snook, CEO
• Rob Sims, Chief Investment Officer

Analysts

• Ashnaa Vyas, Equity Research Associate at Deutsche Bank
• Jonny Coubrough, Director of Building and Construction Research at Deutsche Bank
• Matt Saperia, Real Estate Analyst at Peel Hunt
• Tom Musson, Director and Real Estate Equity Analyst at Berenberg