Our opinion on the current state of LTE

Lighthouse Capital (LTE) (previously Greenbay) was one of the Resilient group of REIT's (real estate investment trusts) along with Resilient itself, Rockcastle and Fortress. These companies were the subject of a damning report by 36One Asset Management who said that their share prices were too high because of their cross-shareholdings. Because of this, Lighthouse's share price (after a 20-for-1 consolidation in November 2018) fell from 5420c in December 2017 to as little as 688c in February 2019. The CEO, Stephen Delport, says that going forward, the company will focus about 80% of its capital on owning market-beating investments in Europe. Clearly, by changing its name, Lighthouse is attempting to distance itself from the Resilient group of companies and establish itself as an independent property company. The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) found that Lighthouse had not been involved in any price manipulation in the Resilient group. Later in September 2019, the FSCA found that there had been no wrongdoing by any of the members of the group at all. Lighthouse held 882m shares in Hammerson worth about 405m euros on 3rd May 2021. On 14th May 2021, Resilient announced that its shareholding of Lighthouse has passed 35% and so it would make a mandatory offer for the balance of Lighthouse's issued shares at 713c per share. On 12th August 2021, the company announced that it had raised R2,6bn in an oversubscribed bookbuild. The funds will be used to purchase four shopping malls in France. In its results for the six months to 30th June 2023 the company reported revenue up 19% and headline earnings per share (HEPS) down 38,5%. The company's loan-to-value (LTV) was 21,77% and its net asset value (NAV) increased by 3,9% to 40,4 euro cents per share. The company said, "...the Lighthouse Board revises its guidance for FY2023 from 2,8 EUR cents per share to 2,7 EUR cents per share." In a pre-close update on 4th December 2023 the company reported, "The year-to-date performance of the Iberian portfolio has been strong with year-to-date footfall and sales increasing by 3.7% and 13.3% year-on-year, respectively, at 30 September 2023. The French portfolio continued its recovery with year-to-date footfall and sales increasing by 13.3% and 10.1% year-on- year, respectively, at 30 September 2023. At Planet Koper year-to-date footfall and sales increased by 8.1% and 8.9% year-on-year, respectively, at 30 September 2023." Technically, the share has been in an extended sideways market and had begun to rise until the advent of the Ukraine crisis. Since the Ukraine war began it has been falling, but it is beginning to recover. We see this company as relatively cheap at current levels.