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Unite Group Sells Academy School for £40.7m

Unite Group has exchanged contracts to sell the academy school at its newly completed Hawthorne House development in London for £40.7m, with proceeds initially set to reduce leverage.

Unite Group (LSE: UTG) has exchanged contracts to sell the academy school at its Hawthorne House development in London for £40.7m. The sale is priced at a 4.9% yield and is expected to complete shortly.

A delayed quote put the shares at 456.2p at 9.20am today, up 2.2p or 0.48% on yesterday’s close of 454p. The stock is down about 18.5% this year from 559.5p at the end of 2025. Its 52-week intraday range runs from 416p on the 8th of October to 599p on the 18th of February.

UTG.LSE

The price is a 2% discount to the school’s book value as at June 2026. The sale is in line with Unite’s business plan and disposal strategy, which includes releasing value from non-purpose-built student accommodation assets.

Unite keeps the 719-bed student accommodation at Hawthorne House. It is fully let for the 2026/27 academic year, and a long-term nomination agreement with the University of the Arts London covers over half the beds.

The school was part of the £225m of assets under offer in Unite’s third-quarter trading update. Proceeds will initially be used to reduce leverage.

Chart of Unite Group's share price over the six months to 22 October 2026.
Unite Group’s share price, six months to 22 October 2026.

Chief executive Joe Lister said:

The sale of the academy school at Hawthorne House is evidence of our capital discipline and proactive capital recycling programme. We are moving at pace to further increase our alignment to the UK’s strongest universities and remain on track to deliver £300-400 million of disposals this year.

Joe Lister, chief executive, Unite Group

The shares are down about 1.7% over the past month. Their lowest close of the period was 419.8p on the 8th of October.

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