Mountview Estates PLC on Thursday said revenue rose but profit fell in a difficult year due to price inflation and higher interest rates.

The London-based property manager said pretax profit for the financial year that ended March 31 was £32.8 million, down 6.3% from £34.9 million the prior year, even as revenue rose by 12% to £73.6 million from £66.0 million.

Costs of sales rose by 32% to £33.0 million in the recent year from £25.1 million the previous year.

Administrative expenses were £6.6 million, up 6.5% from £6.2 million in financial 2022; and net finance costs multiplied to £1.2 million from £298,000.

‘We are now living in the circumstances of double-digit inflation and rising interest rates which give us very different problems to those experienced before and indeed during the Covid pandemic,’ said Chief Executive Officer Duncan Sinclair.

‘At a time when companies are failing to pay dividends and even ceasing to trade mere survival must be considered to be a success.’

Total assets grew to £430.2 million from £395.2 million the previous year, and the company said its new purchases rose to £52.6 million in financial 2023 from £12.5 million the year before.

‘These purchases underpin the future of the company and will ensure future profits,’ said CEO Sinclair.

Mountview Estates declared a final divided for the year of 250 pence per share, unchanged from last year. The total dividend also remained unchanged at 750p.

Shares in Mountview Estates were trading flat at 11,000.00 pence in London on Thursday.

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