Grainger PLC on Wednesday said profit fell in its latest year but that net rental income went up, and announced a new build-to-rent partnership with Network Rail and Bloc Group.

The Newcastle Upon Tyne, England-based residential property developer and landlord said pretax profit dropped 91% in the year ended September 30, to £27.4 million from £298.6 million the year before.

Grainger said this was thanks to a one-off valuation gain of £81.2 million in financial 2022, from the transfer of its trading assets in preparation for REIT conversion. However it also noted a lower valuation performance in financial 2023.

The FTSE 250 firm said net rental income increased 12% to £96.5 million from £86.3 million. Group revenue, however, decreased 4.3% to £267.1 million from £279.2 million.

Profit on sale of residential assets decreased 11% to £57.8 million, while overhead costs increased 5.3% to £33.5 million. Grainger also swung to a £70.2 million loss from valuation movements, compared with a £133.4 million gain the prior year.

Regardless, Grainger declared a 4.37 pence per share final dividend, up from 3.89p for financial 2022. This increased the total payout by 11% to 6.65p per share from 5.97p.

‘It is with great pleasure that I can report an outstanding year of record delivery and a strong performance for Grainger, growing net rental income strongly and enabling us to increase our dividend...while improving the rental experience for our growing number of customers,’ said Chief Executive Helen Gordon.

Also on Wednesday, Grainger announced its new build-to-rent partnership with Network Rail Ltd and Bloc Group, through the two firms’ ’blocwork’ joint venture.

Grainger said the scheme could potentially deliver over 2,000 new rental homes, on sites adjacent to railway hubs, in major cities throughout Great Britain.

Looking ahead, Gordon commented: ‘Our disciplined investment approach means we have the funding in place to deliver our sizeable pipeline of committed projects,’ adding that Grainger’s ‘reliable cashflow...provides us sufficient capacity for continued growth.

‘We remain in a very strong position to continue to deliver great performance and a great rental experience to our customers,’ she continued.

Shares in Grainger were up 0.6% at 255.20p each on Wednesday morning in London.

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