Dear Jim,

Thanks for dropping by with a comment.

I'm delighted that my arguments have merited such a high profile badge of approval :-)

Recent thoughts:

1. UK REITs have generally moved up in price about 5-15% in the last month. While Unite is still hovering near lows. This means that the valuation gap against local peers is bigger than ever.

2. Empiric are still operating as an independent company until the CMA (UK competition and markets authority) phase 1 investigation is complete. They recently reported that they saw rents rise 4.5% (good) but occupancy lower than last year (bad). The reason seems to be a drop in Chinese students coming to the UK. Their accomodation is positioned for older students rather than 1st years, and they apparently hope to lift occupancy with postgraduate students in January.

3. I think I'm going to write to the Unite CEO to point out that if a 20% discount to NRV justified them buying Empiric, then a 47% discount to NRV surely justifies a buyback program for Unite. One of those situations where it's probably worth them selling assets or taking gearing up to LAND/BLND levels in order to buy back the whole portfolio at half price, while it's on offer.

4. Recently, the CMA have very rapidly approved the takeover of Assura REIT by Primary Health Properties REIT without requiring a phase 2 investigation. I think this is probably a good omen for Unite/Empiric?

5. I have not seen anything in the news that would justify the ongoing discount on Unite's stock, it is quite baffling? I am actually quite surprised there hasn't been a move back up to 650-700p sort of level.

6. Saw this article (July 2025) randomly in a news feed: forbes.com - Record numbers of US students are applying to colleges in the UK

7. Obligatory sausage roll news: A tasty treat was on sale yesterday - GRG dropped from 1720p to 1553p in the last ten days. Has recovered to 1600p today, slightly more lukewarm.

TRS