Supermarket Income REIT PLC on Wednesday said that the UK grocery sector continues to show strong resilience despite challenges, as it reported a narrowed interim loss.

The London-based real estate investment trust, which is focused on UK grocery stores said EPRA non tangible assets per share declined 4.3% to 88 pence as at December 31 from 92p a year prior.

Net asset value per share declined 6.3% to 90p as at December 31 from 96p year-on-year.

Annualised passing rent jumped 10% to £104.7 million in the six months to December 31, from £95.5 million a year prior.

Net rental income climbed 15% to £52.6 million from £45.9 million. Meanwhile, administrative costs decreased 3.6% to £7.6 million from £7.9 million.

Pretax loss narrowed to £54.2 million from £202.6 million a year prior.

The company declared an unchanged interim dividend per share of 3.0p, adding it was on track for a full-year target dividend of around 6.1p for financial 2024, up 1.0% from 6.0p paid for financial 2023.

Chair Nick Hewson said: ‘The UK grocery sector continues to demonstrate strong resilience to the challenging macroeconomic environment. Our tenants continue to grow, strengthening their financial and operational performance by putting omnichannel supermarkets at the heart of their operations. We remain focused on our investment strategy of acquiring and managing a high-quality portfolio of omnichannel supermarkets, which are critical to our tenants, giving us exposure to the largest and fastest growing segment of the grocery market.’

He added: ‘Looking forward, the quality of our unique supermarket portfolio and the increasing affordability of grocery rents, together with our strong balance sheet means we are well positioned to deliver long-term value for our shareholders.’

Supermarket Income shares fell 3.1% to 74.10 pence each on Wednesday morning in London.

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