29th Nov 2018 09:27
LONDON (Alliance News) - Civitas Social Housing PLC said on Thursday it is on track to meet its full-year dividend target of 5.0 pence per share, as it continued to build up its portfolio in the first half of its financial year.
For the six months to the end of September, the social housing-focused property investment company declared a dividend of 2.5 pence per ordinary share, up from 2.25p a year before, and in line with its annual dividend target.
Net asset value per share as at September 30 was 106.06 pence, up 2.7% from 103.23p the same date the year before and up 0.5% from 105.54p as at March 31. During the period, GBP150.7 million of acquisitions were made, bringing Civitas's portfolio to 522 properties housing 3,440 tenants.
The investment property portfolio as at September 30 was valued at GBP678.7 million, up from GBP343.3 million on the same date the year before.
For the six months period, rental income more than doubled to GBP15.4 million from the GBP7.0 million for the period from its IPO in November 2016 to the end of September 2017.
However, pretax profit more than halved to GBP10.6 million from GBP23.6 million, due to a reduction in fair value gains from investment properties to GBP6.9 million from GBP21.0 million.
Civitas said there remains significant uncertainty due to the UK's planned exit from the EU; however the company believes that its exposure to its adverse effects is limited by its focus on UK property and the long tenure of its tenants.
"The increasingly diverse portfolio of high-quality assets, combined with the financial commitment from the government towards Specialist Supported Housing and the defensive nature of the company's activities means that Civitas is very well positioned to continue to deliver on its strategy despite the more general political and economic uncertainly that exists at the present time," said Chairman Michael Wrobel.
Shares in Civitas Social Housing were up 0.3% at 107.86 pence on Thursday.
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