Coronavirus Update – The Unite Group plc
Unite Students, the UK’s leading owner, manager and developer of student accommodation, today provides an update on the potential impact of Coronavirus on the business and the measures it is taking to mitigate the resulting risks and enable a rapid recovery.
2019/20 academic year
In line with our previous announcement, we have contacted students to see if they wish to leave their accommodation for the summer semester of 2019/20. Based on cancellation requests received to date, we expect to forgo rent on around 43,000-46,000 beds representing around 62-65% of all owned and managed beds.
Our remaining beds are accounted for by students who have chosen to continue their stay with us and beds let under nomination or lease agreements, where Universities collect rent directly from students (21% of beds). Reflecting the strength of our University partnerships, we have received 94% of the rent due to date in April under these nomination and lease agreements. Remaining payments by Universities for the summer semester are staggered between April and September 2020.
Overall, we expect a reduction in income from the 2019/20 academic year of 16-20% on a Group share basis, an improvement on our previous expectations.
2020/21 academic year
Reservations across the Group for the 2020/21 academic year are currently at 80%, compared with 81% at the same time last year. Positively, we have seen healthy levels of demand from UK students, reflecting our decision to switch the focus of our sales and marketing efforts to the domestic market. We are still seeing enquiries from international students but, as expected, demand has slowed …