26th Nov 2020 11:36
(Alliance News) - First Property Group PLC on Thursday reported a decrease in earnings in the first half of its current financial year, but said it will keep its payout unchanged.
The AIM-listed property fund manager and investor said pretax profit declined by 30% in the six months to the end of September to GBP2.1 million from GBP3.0 million a year earlier, as revenue fell to GBP6.3 million from GBP8.1 million.
Despite that, First Property Group maintained its dividend at 0.45 pence a share.
Net asset value per share was 54.28p on September 30 compared to 59.65p a year prior, representing a 9.0% decline.
"The sale of Chalubinskiego 8 in April released some GBP17 million in cash and put the group in a strong position from which to navigate the economic fallout of the Covid pandemic," said Chief Executive Ben Habib.
"As a consequence of the sale there has been a reduction in rental income, which is the primary reason for the reduction in earnings reported today," added Habib.
First Property shares were trading 2.6% lower in London on Thursday at 37.50 pence each.
By Evelina Grecenko; [email protected]
Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
First Property