Thank you for standing by, and welcome to RAM Essential Services Property Fund HY26 results call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star, followed by one on your telephone keypad. If you'd like to withdraw your question, press star one again. For operator assistance throughout the call, please press star zero, and finally, I would like to advise all participants that this call is being recorded. I'd now like to welcome Scott Kelly, Group CEO, to begin the conference. Scott, over to you.
Thank you, Paulie, good morning, everybody. Today, I'm joined by Matthew Strotton, Head of Real Estate, Doug Rapson, Investment Director, and George Websdale, Head of Funds Management. George is a recent addition to the team, whose background is highly relevant, which we'll run through in a moment or two. On page two of the presentation, you can see the agenda. I'll top and tail the presentation, giving the highlights and the summary. George will cover the healthcare fundamentals. Matt will deliver the bulk of the presentation, being the portfolio performance, the transaction activities, and the opportunities that lie ahead. Kicking off on page four with the highlights, the overarching comment is that the portfolio continues to form well in a manner that you would expect for a defensive set of assets.
Leasing spreads averaged 6.1% across 20 deals completed in the period, including new deals with Coles, Big W, and [Vicinity]. The weighted average rent review sits at 3.6, around 60% of the leases were on a net basis, meaning we are not exposed to inflation in outgoings on those contracts. The WALE on the portfolio is seven years, within the healthcare sleeve, sits at 10 years. Clearly, as we increase healthcare, we'll also increase the WALE. Occupancy remains in the high 90s, the income stream is also consistent, with DPU at AUD 0.05, representing a hefty yield of over 9% on the current share price. Cap rates are also stable, at a touch over 6% across the portfolio, with 75% of the assets being revalued externally over the last 12 months.
In terms of major activity, we have foreshadowed the transition to 80% healthcare. We have made real progress in that regard recently, with the term sheet agreed the sale of five of the retail assets, being Coomera Square, Springfield Fair, Coles Rutherford, Keppel Bay Plaza, and Mowbray Marketplace. Those transactions will go a long way to completing the reweighting process within the stated time, timeframe of 24 months. As the details are confirmed, we will obviously provide investors with further information. Stand by for that in due course. Thereafter, attention will obviously turn to the allocation of the sales proceeds. That's threefold. Firstly, as you'll hear shortly, we see a real opportunity in the healthcare space to acquire attractively priced accretive assets. Secondly, in a higher-for-longer interest rate environment, we'll continue to manage the gearing to a sensible level.
Finally, we're cognizant of the level of discount the stock sits at. The maths of the buyback cannot be ignored. We'll look to reengage that process. Turning to slide six in the pack, let me properly introduce George Websdale, who joined our team within the period as Head of Funds Management. George has over 30 years real estate experience, having worked with Dexus, Centuria, Stockland, and AMP. For much of that 30 years, he's operated in the healthcare space, and is one of the most highly regarded practitioners in that area in Australia. We're pleased to have him. His experience is obviously highly relevant for this strategy. With that, I'll hand over to George, who will talk you through his thoughts on the sector, our thoughts on the sector, and the opportunities therein.
Thank you, Scott, for that introduction. I'm pleased to be joining the team as the firm progresses its well-announced transition to focus on healthcare. Healthcare remains highly resilient and aligned to the well-known fundamentals that continue to create a compelling rationale for investment into the sector. Despite the strong fundamentals, there have been headwinds for investors. The well-publicized disruption in the private hospital sector has caused investors to pause until greater certainty emerges. The tightly held nature of quality healthcare assets has meant sector valuations have lagged other more commoditized sectors. This has led to a two-tiered market, with smaller, non-specialized assets in the sub AUD 30 million sector continuing to attract attention from syndicators and private investors, whereas larger, longer-leased, specialized assets remain scarce and the buyer pool shallow.
We are, however, starting to see the opportunities to acquire larger, higher quality assets above the AUD 30 million size range emerge as vendors look to recycle capital. The fund will be well-positioned to take advantage of what we believe will be a short window to enhance the quality of the portfolio through targeted acquisitions and brownfield expansions. The operator environment is stabilizing. With the Healthscope transaction progressing well, we're seeing the reemergence of a growth mindset from our key operator partners. We believe this is going to translate to the sector, attracting renewed investor interest in the medium term and value growth. I'll just move now on to slide seven. As we strategically reweight to healthcare, our focus will continue to be, to slant the portfolio towards higher quality, specialized healthcare assets in the private surgical, specialized services, and private hospital subsectors.
Mental health and transitional care opportunities are also beginning to show a compelling opportunity to satisfy requirements in the broader healthcare system. Whilst funding uncertainty has been a challenge for operators over the past two to three years, pressure in the public system is creating momentum for operators to help solve these challenges. Our strong operator-aligned relationship model means we are well-placed to work with operators to solve the challenges across our key subsectors of the health market. Moving on now to slide eight. Our current portfolio provides the fund's investors with a strong launchpad. The diversified tenant base gives us access to opportunities across the health funding spectrum. Existing customer relationships with leading operators provide strong counterparties on long-term net and triple net leases. Over 40% of our health assets are exposed to CPI-related rental structures.
The specialized nature of the assets, high barriers to entry, and replacement cost pressure means tenants are committed to long-tenure leases, providing greater income certainty, less downtime and renewal risk, and lower exposure to maintenance and renewal CapEx, noting the majority of our single-tenant hospitals are on triple net leases. With that, I'm going to hand you over to Matt to review portfolio performance.
Thank you, George, and again, echoing what Scott said, a very big welcome aboard to the from the RAM Real Estate team. It's great to have you. Slide 10, folks: Portfolio summary. REP's portfolio is continuing to show resilience, underpinned by 97% occupancy and a WALE now of seven years, a slight adjustment from our last results in August. As at 31 December, total property value increased to AUD 675.5 across our 26 assets, with income diversified across 245 tenants, with 98% of those tenants in our targeted sectors of essential services. Embedded income growth remains a key feature, with 89% of rental income subject to annual escalations at a blended rate of 3.63%. The remainder, typically our anchor tenants or supermarkets, subject to formula or turnover-based reviews.
Lease expiry risk continues to be well managed, with limited near-term income exposure in the majority of the financial year 26 expiries under advanced negotiation. This positioning supports sustainable earnings growth and reinforces the portfolio's defensive characteristics. Moving on to slide 11. Portfolio values have remained steady, with the weighted average cap rate stable at 6.09%. Indeed, stable. There has been a steady improvement in pricing clarity in retail, particularly in the latter half of 2025, and some movement early into 2026, with some activity emerging for healthcare. I do draw on George's comments earlier in this regard. Sentiment has improved earlier in the cycle for retail and healthcare. This is something we foreshadowed when our healthcare transition statements were made.
This allowed us a reasonable and unrushed timeline to consider divestment, and also allowed us visibility on pricing movements and shifts, particularly shifts in investor demand. We don't anticipate, however, this to continue too far into 2026. 75% of the portfolio has been externally valued within the last 12 months, which is reinforcing our valuation transparency here at REP. As transaction activity continues to build, we'll stay focused on interpreting that market evidence and ensure that our valuations and prudent level of capital management continues. Slide 12, Portfolio Occupancy and Leasing. Leasing momentum across the portfolio continues to support income growth, despite a moderating macro environment. The fund has achieved a sound NOI growth level of 2.1%, which is lower, as you will see, than prior results.
This has been the result of some increases in expenditure through some of our property repairs and improvements that were unforeseen, as well as unforeseen tenant vacancy. The portfolio, however, continues to experience positive leasing spreads and the recurring benefit of our structured rent reviews, which we expect to increase NOI back to trend or greater in the coming quarters. Occupancy remains steady at 97%, underscoring the defensive nature, as mentioned, and WALE has now moved to seven years, picking up on my prior comments. Leasing spreads at 6.1% across 20 deals continues to outpace inflation and does continue to demonstrate the portfolio's pricing power in our submarkets. On the bottom right-hand side, you will note the somewhat modest supermarket MAT growth of 1.4%.
Whilst this will translate into higher turnover linked income, it is at a lower level from prior reporting periods and currently reported inflation. We don't anticipate this to continue and would highlight that this growth is derived from local factors rather than any sort of interpretation of a weakening consumer or weakening retail spend. There is no new supply in the trade areas of our seven assets or our seven supermarkets, but we note that three arguably have reached a particular phase of maturity, which will be addressed through all three of those being poised at various phases for significant center refurbishment or repositioning. I'll come to that shortly. Overall, high occupancy, longer lease tenure or sustained lease tenure, a built-in rental growth position for the portfolio will continue to deliver stable and predictable income. Slide 14 now, folks, funds from operations.
Firstly, allow me to note that you are looking at two periods that are not quite like for like, given the movement in GAAP from year to year. Normalized FFOs decreased to AUD 9.1 million from AUD 10.9 million. We are calling out normalized FFO in this instance, due to the heightened level of transaction activity. The standard FFO definition incorporates one-off transaction costs, which in this instance will not recur and is not the most suitable representation of FFO at this point. This half year has been impacted, I quoted this a little earlier. Unforeseen vacant tenancies, noting that the recovery of any lost income on these tenancies would or is anticipated to be reflected in the latter half, as well as additional center expense, largely attributed to unforeseen repairs and minor compliance obligations.
As with prior years, our FFO payout ratio is higher in this half than the second, typically due to that skew and the run rate of our income reviews that are for several of our larger medical leases and other leases that occurs in the second half. Some unexpected vacancy did emerge late last year, the potential to recover that revenue is now being pushed to the second half. Noting all of that, full year projections remain on target. When successful, the retail divestment, as talked about by Scott, will provide a range of accretive opportunities in the second half and beyond. Importantly, the distribution to date is at AUD 0.025 per security, which reflects confidence in cash flow durability and the quality of our underlying income. Moving forward to slide 15.
REP and the team have taken a significant step towards our evolution, your evolution as our investors, as a pure play healthcare REIT. As noted, our team have held lengthy discussions with an institutional investor for the sale of five shopping centers, including, as Scott said, Coomera, Springfield, Rutherford, Keppel and Mowbray. This down weighting, the effective down weighting of retail, remains consistent with our clearly stated objectives some 18 or greater months ago. The term sheet at this stage remains subject to approvals and the finalization of various items in diligence. At the appropriate time, we will update the market, ideally in the very near future. We are quite indeed pleased with this progress, that we have been patient on your behalf and allowed ourselves greater visibility through to the end of this cycle.
We are equally encouraged at the recent signals the healthcare sector at both operator and at capital market level has sustained at. Like me, I trust you noted some of George's comments earlier in this regard. Importantly, higher growth assets at both Punchbowl and Ballina are being retained. Both of these centers provide near-term value add opportunities. At Punchbowl, discussions with Woolworths have commenced regarding a center refurbishment, with a service expansion expected to drive sales, productivity, and rental growth. At Ballina, very strong leasing progress with three tenants, including both Big W and Super IGA, which both exercised their option, and Super IGA also has a market rent review, provide a clear pathway for income accretion and a range of potential alternatives for a center remix. Overall, the transaction will allow us to advance REP's strategic repositioning.
Slide 17, capital investment initiatives. As we look ahead to what we anticipate to be a successful transaction, let's take a brief look at the possible use of proceeds. A move to healthcare, greater ability to manage debt, including the potential to reactivate or recommence the buyback, and allowing ourselves flexibility, either through debt management or through cash management, to pursue a range of value-add initiatives. We do intend to remain in the 30%-40% range for leverage, though we may even elect to reduce this lower, again, to give ourselves flexibility to pursue acquisitions in particular, but potentially value add. Overall, our primary initiative will be to position ourselves to pursue strategic healthcare acquisitions. We are highly encouraged by the opportunity the market presents, and elements of market dislocation remain.
Further, with the addition of George to bolster the team alongside Sam Wood and Adam Thompson, we are excited about the next steps in pipeline nourishment. Finally, we're staying positioned to execute on that value add program as our appetite increases, but we are not forced to execute. Just finally, on slide 18, just to give you a quick little look at our value add opportunities. We do have a variety of schemes that are reaching a critical phase, including the refurbishment and service expansion of projects at Dubbo and Miami Private, as well as potential development and capacity expansion at both Mayo Private and Northwest Private Hospital. Each of these schemes are at various stages of feasibility, design, and planning, and present in aggregate, quite a range of exciting potential alpha return in the coming years.
With that, and thanks for your patience, folks, I'll hand it back to SK.
Thanks very much, Matt. Just turning to page 20, I'll quickly summarize and then hand it over to Q&A. The portfolio is in good shape, with high occupancy, strong leasing spreads, a seven-year WALE, and growing NOI. The risks are being managed. At 84% hedged, we are protected against higher interest rates. Over 60% of the leases are not exposed to cost inflation, given they are net in nature. The inflation hedge also comes through in rental growth, both contractually within the leases and higher rents as we renew. The tenant mix is diversified, the covenants are strong, and the mix is evolving nicely. We said we would transition to 80% healthcare within 24 months, and we are delivering on that and within that timeframe, having reached an agreement to sell five of the retail assets.
That gives us the opportunity to acquire well-priced, accretive medical assets, as well as doing sensible things like managing our gearing and re-engaging the buyback, given the discount we sit on. We move through that, we will announce the final details. In terms of outlook, the DPU is consistent, equating to a yield of over 9%, which we believe is indicative of deep value available in such a defensive strategy. That, Paulie, we're happy to throw open to questions.
Thank you, Scott. As mentioned, we will now begin the Q&A session. A reminder, if you are listening by phone and would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. To withdraw your question, press the star one again. When called upon to ask your questions, please use your device handset and ensure you are not on mute. In the interest of time and fairness to all, we do request to please limit to one question and one follow-up today. Your first question comes from the line of Cody Shield of UBS. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Scott and team. Thanks for the time this morning. First one, just on hedging. You have a comment there that you'll revisit that post-transactions. Can I just ask where that's sitting for second half 2026 and FY27, and what cost of debt you're expecting for the second half?
The hedging is 83.7% currently, pre-transaction. The cost of debt, Matt?
The cost of debt all in, I'm just looking it up. I don't want to speak all in. Just under 5% is the all-in cost of debt when you account for its spreads and the base margins in those range of hedges.
Okay, got it. The hedging level for 2027?
If we stay as is, and the transaction were not to occur, I think we have one of our more material hedges unwinding in the third quarter this year. I think, and I'll check on this, I think it does go down, if we did nothing, to below 60% for 2027, but we can check on that for you, Cody.
Got it. Thanks. Maybe just another one, just on the payout ratio. You know, you called that out. That's elevated this period, slight skew, but when might you see that getting back to 100% or below?
The projection is that we'll be at 100% by June this year. Again, I think it's this last two year, with so much activity, it's caused a little bit of a sort of timing mismatch, which has been highlighted a little bit too much this half. We do call that out. Where we were heading in our initial draft was about the same margin as, or same ratio as the year prior. There was just a couple of unforeseen tenant issues that emerged. That we expect it to stay where it was and normalizing back in June this year.
Okay. Got it. That's all from me. Thanks, guys.
This is a final call out for any questions. Please press Star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. Again, that is Star one to raise your hand and join the queue. This does conclude our Q&A session. I would like to thank our speakers for today's presentation, and thank you all for joining us. This now concludes today's conference.