4th Mar 2015 08:15
LONDON (Alliance News) - Commercial property company CLS Holdings PLC on Wednesday reported a big jump in pretax profit in 2014 on the back of a massive rise in the valuation of its property portfolio.
CLS said its pretax profit for the year was GBP236.8 million, compared to GBP71.4 million in 2013, as it registered a GBP186 million gain in the valuation of its property portfolio, compared to a GBP0.2 million decline in 2013.
Group revenue for 2014 was GBP99.6 million, up from GBP91.2 million, as its net rental income rose to GBP82.2 million from GBP73.1 million.
CLS is proposing a tender offer buyback of 1 in 80 shares at 1,950 pence per share in April, with a plan to distribute GBP10.4 million to its shareholders, equivalent to 24.4 pence per share. This would bring total shareholder distributions for 2014 to GBP15.9 million, up 6.4% year-on-year.
The company said though it expects the upcoming general election in the UK to cause some temporary political uncertainty, it expects the UK economy to continue to grow and sees the outlook for the commercial property market as positive.
It also thinks the positive trends in the London market will spread to the rest of the market in the UK.
"In 2014 we continued to make substantial progress, with the completion of two important developments in central London, opportunistic acquisitions, selective disposals, the extension of our development pipeline, and the lowest ever vacancy rate across the group," said CLS Executive Chairman Sten Mortstedt.
CLS shares were up 3.0% to 1,730.00 pence on Wednesday, one of the best performers in the FTSE 250.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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