Unite Group (UTG.L) Trading update 95 of beds booked for AY26 27, FY26 EPS guidance reaffirmed

Equity Research 17 September 2026 | 7:07AM BST

Unite Group (UTG.L): Trading update: 95% of beds booked for AY26/27, FY26 EPS guidance reaffirmed

Unite released a trading update, reporting that they have booked 95% of beds for AY Rebecca Parker | 2026/27 (2025/26: 95%) in the Unite Student portfolio. This was compromised of Goldman Sachs International 54% of beds let under nomination agreements and 41% through direct-let Jonathan Kownator (2025/26: 59% and 36% respectively). Guidance for adjusted earnings of 41.5-43.0p | remains unchanged for FY26. Goldman Sachs International

Kuber Sood, CFA Across the Unite Students portfolio, leasing supports a 0.5% to 1.0% growth in | Goldman Sachs India SPL like-for-like income (Unite share). This reflects an increase in occupancy, broadly flat rents and shortening tenancy agreements due to a shift towards undergraduate students over post graduate students. The lfl income growth is in line with previous guidance of 0-2%, whilst flat rental growth is below the previous 1-2% rental growth guidance.

Hello Student bookings are tracking at 91% for AY 2026/27 (2025/26: 84%), with Unite commenting that performance reflects enhancements to the sales and marketing platform and targeted price reductions. Unite sees scope for occupancy to improve a further 1pp over coming weeks to 92%, ahead of previous guidance of 88-90%.

Unite opened its Hawthorne House development following approval from the Building Safety regulator, with the property fully let for the 2026/27 academic year.

On balance, we expect the update to have a positive impact on the trading of the shares, given the re-iteration of guidance.

We rate Unite’s share as Buy with c.23% upside potential to our 12-month EVA®-based price target of 590p. Key downside risks to our view and PT include (i) higher supply than our expectations, (ii) lower-than-expected demand due to potential policy or regulatory changes, (iii) lower-than-expected demand for PBSA, (iv) affordability issues, (v) potential delays to the company’s development projects, (vi) cost inflation, and (vii) higher-than-expected interest rates.

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Goldman Sachs Unite Group (UTG.L)

UTG.L 12m Price Target: 590p Price: 485.8p Upside: 21.4%

Buy GS Forecast 12/25 12/26E 12/27E 12/28E Market cap: £2.0bn / $2.7bn Revenue (£ mn) Enterprise value: £3.9bn / $5.3bn EPS (p) m ADTV: £11.3mn / $15.1mn Earnings yield (%) 6.4 8.6 9.1 8.7 United Kingdom Dividend yield (%) 5.1 7.6 8.0 7.3 Europe Real Estate EPRA NTAPS (p) M&A Rank: 3 Prem. to NTAPS (%) ( ) Leases incl. in net debt & EV?: No EBITDA/EV (X) 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 ROCE (%) 3.7 (7.2) 4.8 9.1 ROAE (%) 2.1 (8.6) 3.8 8.5

12/25 6/26E 12/26E 6/27E EPS (p)

Source: Company data, Goldman Sachs Research estimates, FactSet. Price as of 16 Sep 2026 close.