Shares of Newcastle-headquartered Grainger plc, the UK’s largest listed residential landlord, rose about 5% after it published a trading for the four months to the end of January 2025, alongside its AGM.

Grainger reported a 15% growth in total net rental income for the period and said it expects EPRA earnings per share to grow 50% in the medium term through the delivery of its committed BTR (built to rent) investment pipeline.

Grainger has a £3.4bn operational portfolio of 11,100 homes and a £1.4 biliion pipeline of a further 5,000 build-to-rent homes.

Grainger CEO Helen Gordon said: “Grainger continues to perform strongly, delivering 15% growth in total net rental income on the same period last year, and up from 14% growth reported at FY24.

“This reflects the growth in our portfolio, the strength in our leasing and supportive Build to Rent (“BTR”) market with excellent fundamentals.

“We expect to deliver continued growth in strong, reliable, cash-backed earnings for years to come, and our conversion to a REIT later this year, marks Grainger’s transformation away from a trading business to a total returns focused investment business underpinned by reliable, recurring income.

“We expect earnings to grow by 50% in the medium term through the delivery of our committed BTR investment pipeline. Today’s announcement of 15% net rental income growth demonstrates the progress in the delivery of this.

“Our leading operating platform powered by our CONNECT technology platform enables us to keep central costs relatively flat whilst we grow materially, driving this significant compounding earnings growth over the coming years.

“A supportive regulatory backdrop alongside an increasing number of positive statements in support of Build to Rent from the UK Government further strengthens our outlook for the future.”