Picton Property Income Ltd on Thursday said it beat its benchmark in its recently-ended financial year, and it lauded promising signs early this year.

The London-based real estate investor said its pretax loss narrowed in the year ended March 31 to £4.8 million from £89.5 million the year prior.

Picton benefitted from more stable property prices reporting a total loss on investment of £26.5 million compared to £110.8 million.

Net property income rose to £37.9 million, up 4.4% from £36.3 million.

Net tangible assets per share fell to 96.00 pence from 100.00p.

A total dividend for the year was maintained at 3.50p.

With a 1.6% total property return, compared to the negative 1.0% return of the MSCI UK Quarterly Property Index’s, Picton outperformed its benchmark for an 11th consecutive year.

Chief Executive Michael Morris said: ‘2024 appears to have started with considerably more momentum than the preceding year and this has been apparent in the continued rental growth and stabilisation in capital growth.

‘Our approach capitalises on real estate being an ever-evolving asset class, with buildings continually adapted, upgraded or repurposed to meet changing occupier demand.’

Whilst recognising inflationary risks, management believes the short to medium-term economic outlook offers signs of cautious optimism.

Going forward, Picton said it is focused on reducing office exposure to enable higher occupancy, and the company will continue to upgrade or repurpose assets to accommodate changing occupier demand.

Picton Property shares were down 1.9% to 67.00 pence each in London on Thursday afternoon.

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