Data centres have become one of the hottest areas of real estate as artificial intelligence drives demand for computing power. In this analysis, we look at a UK property company with a dominant logistics portfolio that is now moving into the data centre market, potentially unlocking a new avenue of growth and shareholder value.
Big opportunities inside this Big Box
Tritax BigBox BBOX LN is a REIT or Real Estate Investment Trust, which by nature are designed to be largely staid and unexciting, but commercial property is becoming interesting again, particularly in the right sectors, such as prime London office space. And whilst Tritax Bigbox can’t claim to have exposure to that segment, it is dipping a toe in the other hot property in the world of real estate right now, and that’s Data Centres,
Tritax is best known for owning logistics assets; in fact, it has the largest portfolio of warehousing and distribution centres in the UK. The company prides itself on offering high-quality facilities to high-quality clients, working with those clients to actively manage sites, adapting to trends such as changes in supply chains and shifting consumer demands, and it does so with an emphasis on sustainability.
The company targets a yield of between +6.0 to 8.0% from its logistics operations; however, the early indications are that data centres could provide a higher return, which could be in double figures.
BBOX has 2 data centre projects in the mix right now, one at Manor Farm near Heathrow airport, the other on the outskirts of Chelmsford in Essex.
It’s early days for both projects, with planning for Manor Farm only being approved by the government on June 10th, while in Chelmsford, the development management agreement was only announced on June 17th. However, the fact that there has been news on 2 deals, in quick succession, suggests that BBOX is keen to make an impression in the space.
The TAM or Total Addressable Market for UK data centres is estimated to be £13.0 billion, and BBOX’s move into the space looks to be very timely.
A recent report by Savills found that:
“The UK’s data centre vacancy rate has compressed sharply in the last decade, from 27% in 2016 to 8% in Q1 2026, with London’s vacancy rate currently even lower at just 7%. A record amount of capacity – 217MW – took space across the country in 2025, up from 212MW in 2024, with 96MW taken in the final quarter of 2025 alone”
Savills found that much of the latent demand for data centres in the UK is focused in and around London, and that the industry now faces a critical shortage of available space.
If Tritax can leverage its specialist real estate expertise successfully in the data centre space, then it could be transformative for the business.
Performance
Tritax has lived up to its billing as a staid conservative investment in 2026, the highlight being a +3.67% gain in the stock price over the last 3 months, but when you consider the macro background in that period, any kind of positive performance is not to be sniffed at.
Over the long term, say 10 years, which is the sort of time scale that a property company of this type should really be judged on, BBOX is up by.+ 16.20%, and the three-year performance is a rather racy gain of +22.18%.
Tritax BigBox trades at -14.74% discount to its NAV, which, according to data from Morningstar, sits just below 183.0 pence per share
Pros:
Substantial portfolio of logistics assets underpins the business.
Years of experience in the business around the construction and management of large buildings and developments should help diversification into data centres. High demand for data centres in and around London, with the potential for geographic expansion thereafter.
Cons:
Uncertain outlook for the domestic economy in the UK, investors may be wary given the political uncertainty both at home and abroad. Data centre projects are unproven, and greenfield right now, management needs to deliver on the testbeds to demonstrate the proof of concept, and yield the potential of the new ventures.
Technical outlook
Technically, the stock is ranging sideways between 140p and the current 152p. To impress the market. We would need to see old support/resistance on either side of 160p taken out, which would open the door to a retest of 166p/167p, with 169p and 174p as levels to think about thereafter.
Fundamental outlook
Analysts expect BBOX to see its rental income grow to £407.30 million by 2028 from an estimated £344.20 million for 2026.
EPS or earnings per share should rise to 10.20p from the current 8.96p over the same period, while the dividend is forecast to hit 9.46p per share vs estimates for 8.39p this year.
Is Tritax Big Box a buy or sell?
The current share price of 152p gives the company a market cap of just over £4.10 billion; however, price targets from the likes of US broker Jefferies are pitched at 200p, suggesting some +30.0% of upside could be possible in the stock.
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