Segro PLC on Friday said it swung to profit in its latest six-month period, and increased its interim dividend.
The London-based property investment company said its net asset value per share decreased slightly to 874 pence at June 30, from 886p at December 31.
Shares in Segro traded 2.7% lower at 882.80p each in London late on Friday morning.
Segro did however increase its dividend for the first half of 2024, by 4.6% to 9.1p per share from 8.7p the prior year.
The firm also swung to a £235 million pretax profit for the half year, from a £33 million loss the year before. Earnings per share totalled 16.9p, compared with a 1.9p loss.
Segro’s assets under management decreased 0.2%, to £20.65 billion at June 30 from £20.68 million six months prior, although its portfolio valuation edged up 0.3% to £17.82 billion from £17.76 billion. Net debt meanwhile decreased 13% to £5.22 billion from £6.02 billion.
‘Segro has continued to perform well during the first half of 2024, signing £48 million of new rent,’ commented Chief Executive David Sleath. ‘The balance of supply and demand for modern warehouse space remains supportive of further rental growth and development gains in the attractive European markets in which our portfolio is concentrated.
‘Valuations have stabilised with the UK seeing its first increase since the cycle turned in 2022. The strength of our local networks, and balance sheet have enabled us to invest selectively in profitable new opportunities, putting to work some of the capital raised in February.’
Looking ahead, Segro claims to have ‘ one of the best and most modern industrial and logistics portfolios in Europe’, with high demand for its assets from potential occupiers due to a shortage of ‘modern, sustainable space’ in the locations where it operates.
‘Our portfolio is well-positioned to benefit from this tight supply-demand dynamic and we believe that this, combined with an improving macroeconomic situation, will support higher take-up levels and help to drive continued rental growth in line with our medium-term expectations,’ Segro added.
It continued: ‘Overall, we believe the present market environment offers an attractive opportunity for profitable medium-term investment.’
Meanwhile, CEO David Sleath added: ‘In a sector that continues to benefit from long-term, attractive structural drivers, Segro is well-placed for further growth through a combination of active asset management of our irreplaceable, prime portfolio of existing assets and our profitable development programme, which includes a sizeable data centre pipeline.
‘These factors, together with the competitive advantage of our market-leading operating platform, give us confidence that we will continue to deliver attractive and compounding increases in both earnings and dividends.’
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