Buy into this fast-growing Reit

Max King picks a real estate investment rust that aims to tap in to the growth of online retail and warehousing.

As the importance of logistics to businesses, especially to retailers, has increased, so has the size and complexity of the warehouses involved. These are no longer just buildings where bulk orders are broken down for delivery to local outlets. Retailers want to avoid missed sales because shelves are empty or items have sold out and this requires them to have sophisticated stock control and reorder systems that connect outlets, warehouses, suppliers and central accounting. In addition, the warehouses need to deliver directly to customers or pick-up points, in order to fulfil growing numbers of mail and online orders.

All this necessitates the use of huge warehouses, usually over 500,000 square feet, filled with expensive machinery for automated storage, picking and packaging. The cost of this machinery usually far exceeds that of the building itself. What's more, these warehouses, described by Colin Godfrey, chief executive of logistics investment company Tritax (LSE: BBOX), as "big boxes", have to be located next to major roads to minimise the travel time for lorries and vans. They don't win prizes for their architecture, but they are functional, efficient and their tenants depend on them.

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Max King
Investment Writer

Max has an Economics degree from the University of Cambridge and is a chartered accountant. He worked at Investec Asset Management for 12 years, managing multi-asset funds investing in internally and externally managed funds, including investment trusts. This included a fund of investment trusts which grew to £120m+. Max has managed ten investment trusts (winning many awards) and sat on the boards of three trusts – two directorships are still active.

After 39 years in financial services, including 30 as a professional fund manager, Max took semi-retirement in 2017. Max has been a MoneyWeek columnist since 2016 writing about investment funds and more generally on markets online, plus occasional opinion pieces. He also writes for the Investment Trust Handbook each year and has contributed to The Daily Telegraph and other publications. See here for details of current investments held by Max.