Kingston Properties Limited has completed its third UK property investment.
Kingston Properties Limited (KPREIT) has acquired its third property in the United Kingdom (UK) as the real estate investment company moves closer to its 2026 goals.
KPREIT finalised the acquisition of a 17,085 square feet (sq ft) office building on December 24. The property known as Lakeview East is in the Crossways Business Park, Dartford. It is 20 minutes outside of Central London.
The building was developed in 2009 and is currently tenanted by Kuehne + Nagel Limited, a subsidiary of Swiss logistics company Kuehne + Nagel International AG, which is in turn controlled by Germany’s richest man Klaus-Michael Kühne. Kuehne + Nagel generated £1.12 billion in revenue during 2024 and had £20.02 million in net profit. It also had £264.35 million in assets and £37.52 million in equity/net assets.
According to a loopnet.co.uk posting, offers were being sought above £3.5 million (US$4.72 million) for the three-storey property which has a net initial yield of 10.95 per cent based on that purchase price. The sales brochure also revealed that the property has current rental income of £408,432 (US$551,238) which equates to £23.90 per sq ft. Kuehne + Nagel is currently on a 10-year lease which expires in October 2029, with the business covering full repairs and insurance under the lease agreement.
“This acquisition further strengthens KPREIT’s exposure to resilient commuter-belt office locations supported by robust infrastructure, a diversified employment base, strong fundamentals, and institutional-grade tenants,” KPREIT said in its JSE disclosure.
Investors will have to wait until the end of February for KPREIT to publish its audited financials which will reveal the purchase price for the property. According to the UK’s property search information portal, Lakeview East was last sold for £4.39 million in May 2015. KPREIT’s Lakeview East purchase was funded by a mixture of debt and equity.
KPREIT told investors in June 2023 that it was searching for distressed properties in overseas markets and that it was interested in the UK which was undergoing political turmoil. The UK has faced significant economic pressure since Brexit, when it formally left the European Union’s single market and customs union, introducing new trade barriers and reducing frictionless access to its largest trading partner.
According to a June 2025 paper by John Springford, for the Constitution Society and Federal Trust, the UK’s growth rate is estimated to be six per cent lower when using the doppelgänger method. The National Bureau of Economic Research’s paper entitled ‘Economic Impact of Brexit’ estimates that Brexit had reduced the UK’s GDP by six to eight per cent.
However, the United Kingdom is still a major global economy with strategic economic value for key industries in shipping and logistics.
KPREIT formed its subsidiary KPRE (UK) Limited in March 2024 and completed the purchase of 2530 Aztec West Business Park, Bristol for £3.87 million (US$5.28 million) in December 2024. KPRE (UK) then acquired Building 4 – Dorking Business Park, Dorking on March 31 for approximately US$4.64 million. That brings its total UK property portfolio to approximately 50,085 sq. ft.
These three property purchases have resulted in the UK representing 16 per cent of KPREIT’s portfolio. Jamaica currently represents the largest share with 42 per cent of the portfolio followed by the Cayman Islands and United States of America (USA) at 39 per cent and three per cent, respectively. KPREIT had 537,000 sq ft of buildings and 137,000 sq ft of land owned at the end of 2024.
KPREIT is currently pushing to achieve its ambitious targets of US$100 million in assets under management or ownership and generating US$2 million in funds from operations (FFO) for the 2026 financial year. It had consolidated assets of US$87.08 million as of September 30, with US$79.77 million in investment property assets and US$3.06 million in real estate funds.
KPREIT secured a US$3.57 million debt facility from CIBC Caribbean Bank (Jamaica) during the period to fund its greenfield development of 14 mini-warehouse units at Rousseau Road. The project is being done as a joint venture with Relmac Construction and is expected to be completed during the first quarter (January to March) of 2026.
KPREIT also received approval from its shareholders on August 10 to move ahead with a planned additional public offering (APO). KPREIT intends to issue these new shares in a public offering where the shares might be denominated in currencies other than the Jamaican dollar (JMD). KPREIT’s last APO in June 2022 saw it raise $1.55 billion which reduced its debt balance and supported its growth strategy.
For the nine-month period overall, KPREIT saw a 30 per cent increase in consolidated rental income to US$4.52 million due to the latest UK property additions and higher occupancy at its various properties. Although KPREIT’s operating profit dipped 29 per cent from US$3.17 million to US$2.26 million, its FFO improved by 112 per cent to US$1.67 million.
KPREIT’s earnings for the period were impacted by a US$1.38 million fair value loss on its Polaris at East Point investment. Without the fair value loss, KPREIT’s operating profit would have been approximately US$3.27 million.
KPREIT’s finance costs increased 57 per cent to US$1.68 million as it tapped on more debt to fund its recent property acquisitions. KPREIT’s net profit for the nine months period declined 65 per cent from US$2.19 million to US$776,790.
KPREIT’s stock price closed Wednesday at $9.40 which translates to a market capitalisation of $8.30 billion. KPREIT ended 2024 with a closing price of $9.43 and a high of $9.58.