Picton Property Income Ltd on Tuesday said it swung to a profit in the first half of its current financial year, due to net rental income growth and reduced finance costs.
The London-based commercial property real estate investment trust swung to a pretax profit of £11.5 million in the six months that ended September 30, from a loss of £1.4 million the previous year.
Total finance costs during the six-month period were reduced 21% to £3.7 million from £4.7 million the year before.
Net property income grew 1.1% to £18.4 million from £18.2 million last year, while total operating expenses rose 2.9% to £3.5 million from £3.4 million.
However, ‘excluding assets held for sale, net property income increased by £700,000 or 3.6%. Previous leasing activity at industrial assets in Harlow, Barking and Warrington underpinned the rental income growth’, Picton Property said.
Total net asset value return during the six months was 2.2%, compared to negative 0.2% last year, and NAV was stable at £524.8 million, a rise of 0.1% from £524.5 million.
Picton Property Income declared an interim dividend of 1.85 pence per share, up 5.7% from 1.75p last year.
Chief Executive Officer Michael Morris said: ‘We are pleased with the progress we have made during the period delivering EPRA earnings growth of nearly 12% compared to this time last year. Net assets have increased and we continue to operate with a fully covered dividend.
‘We have improved occupancy and further invested into upgrading our portfolio. With asset disposal proceeds we have also fully repaid floating rate debt, with the remaining facilities now 100% fixed, with a seven-year maturity profile.
‘We are progressing our portfolio repositioning strategy and are also encouraged by our pipeline of asset management activity. Alongside our investment into our portfolio this will drive occupancy, income and capital growth.’
Shares in Picton Property Income were down 0.7% at 69.60 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.
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