The Ethical Property Company is one of the leading private property companies serving the needs of the social sector. The Company was established to show how property could be used to advance a more just, equitable and sustainable society. We provide an opportunity to invest in commercial property, which is an inflation-linked asset class that can provide capital appreciation over the long-term.
Our 17 owned and 7 managed centres currently provide workspace and support services to some 1,000 social change organisations, an impressive achievement but still only a fraction of the estimated 160,000 charities and 70,000 social enterprises in the UK.
With both national and local governments reducing their budgets dramatically, the burden of providing a social safety net is increasingly falling on the social sector. Social change organisations are rising to meet this challenge and need appropriate accommodation for their work. Meeting their needs is an opportunity for the Ethical Property Company.
We are undertaking a Share Issue as we seek to raise up to £3,500,000 of new capital to take advantage of this opportunity, further support the social sector and fund our continued growth.
We have undertaken four Share Issues since 1999, raising more than £12,000,000 to finance our expansion. In addition to this, our sister companies in Belgium and France have raised over €8,000,000 since 2010.
We deliver results based upon a Triple Bottom Line model: social performance by maintaining property as community assets; environmental performance by focusing on lowering our carbon emissions; and financial performance by providing a regular, annual dividend which is asset backed, providing the potential for capital growth, within a low risk model.
Our success comes from a proven strategy that combines astute real estate investment skills with enduring ethical values to inform our decision-making. We aim to acquire properties at competitive rates, develop them cost effectively to a high standard, offer them for very competitive rents and manage them well to secure high occupancy.
For the first 10 years from our inception in 1998, we were fortunate to operate in a positive financial environment with increasing property values and high demand for space. We were then seriously tested in 2008 by the global financial crisis resulting in falling property prices and rising voids, with some tenants facing a loss of their grant funding. However, throughout that period we maintained profitability and dividends. We are very proud to have done this and emerged from a difficult period stronger and in a better position.
At a time when high property prices threaten to displace more and more social change organisations from our city centres, we are determined to use our successful business model to redress the balance.
By investing in Ethical Property, you can support the mission of a wide range of social change organisations.
