The merger hangover? Not here
Primary Health Properties kicked out its audited preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2025, and the big message is pretty simple: the Assura deal wasn’t just a flashy headline, it’s starting to look like a machine that actually works.
The company says the combination with Assura plc created a £6 billion healthcare REIT, and it’s already delivered 83% of the targeted £9 million in annualized synergies ahead of schedule. Translation: management is telling investors the integration isn’t stuck in the usual corporate merge swamp.
Cash, leverage, and the long game
PHP also said it’s progressing with joint ventures tied to its private hospital portfolio, including a £103 million injection into primary care assets to help reduce leverage. That matters because REITs live and die by balance sheet discipline — especially when rates are still the financial equivalent of a pebble in your shoe.
Dividends: still the crown jewel
The company also leaned hard into its dividend identity, saying it’s now at 30 straight years of dividend growth and intends to keep paying a progressive dividend on a fully covered basis. It plans quarterly payments in May, August, and November 2026, with a mix of Property Income Distribution and normal dividend.
And for the dividend nerds in the back: PHP says it will seek AGM authority to bring back the scrip dividend for future payouts, at the board’s discretion. Big picture: this is less “exciting moonshot” and more “slow, steady, rent-collecting compounding machine,” which is exactly the kind of thing income investors love when it’s working.