Aroundtown - comment

There will be little change in AroundTown's bond prices following this morning's Q2 results, with operational performance remaining resilient. The 2.7% LFL rental growth is providing little deleveraging benefit, as higher interest costs and continued shareholder distributions keep leverage elevated.

AroundTown increased its stake in GCP to 84%, providing a larger contribution to earnings. LTV has crept upwards to 43%, but remains below the 45% guidance. The continued focus on shareholder returns, including share buybacks and dividends, has come at the expense of deleveraging and contributed to the modest increase in leverage.