Great Portland Estates PLC on Thursday said it swung to a profit in the first half of its current financial year, as it returned to a surplus on investment properties.
The London-based commercial property company said it swung to a pretax profit of £29.9 million during the six months that ended September 30, from a loss of £253.4 million the previous year.
This was primarily due to the company’s surplus from investment properties swinging to £19.0 million, from a deficit of £219.7 million the year before.
Revenue, however, fell 5.8% to £44.9 million from £47.6 million, while cost of sales increased 3.0% to £16.8 million from £16.3 million.
This was offset by administrative expenses reducing 6.9% to £19.5 million from £20.9 million, and the company’s share of results from joint ventures swinging to £6.7 million from a loss of £39.6 million a year prior.
Net assets per share on September 30 were 477 pence, down 13% from 542p year-on-year.
Great Portland Estates declared an interim dividend of 2.9p per share, which was 47% lower than 4.7p last year.
Chief Executive Officer Toby Courtauld said: ‘We are pleased to report on another successful operational performance, despite challenging political and economic conditions and fluctuating sector sentiment over the first half.
‘With deep customer demand for prime, sustainable spaces in our core markets and an increasing shortage of such supply, we are well-placed to capitalise; our leasing is strong, beating the valuer’s estimates by 7% on average with our spaces currently under offer some 16% ahead. We expect our rents to continue rising, reaffirming our rental growth guidance, as we fill our well-timed and located, sustainable developments and refurbishments, growing our rent roll by some 99% from our existing commitments alone.
‘We added substantially to our platform for growth during the half through our successful £350 million rights issue in June and a further £400 million of debt issuance since then. With a circa £1 billion pipeline of potential purchases under review, we expect to transact further in the second half, supplementing our exceptional on-site and near-term development programme, which already covers 1.2 million square feet and will generate significant surpluses.’
Broker Shore Capital forecast £107.7 million in full-year revenue for Great Portland Estates, for the year due to end March 21, 2025, which would represent a 12% growth from £95.4 million last year.
Shares in Great Portland Estates were down 0.2% at 299.50 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
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