22nd Mar 2019 08:38
LONDON (Alliance News) - Henry Boot PLC hiked its 2018 dividend Friday despite profit falling on higher costs and lower revenue, leaving the property investment and construction firm with a cautious outlook for 2019.
In 2018, pretax profit narrowed 12% to GBP48.6 million from GBP55.4 million the year prior. This was after revenue fell 2.8% to GBP397.1 million from GBP408.5 million the year before.
Profit performance was hurt by cost of sales falling by less than revenue and also by a general rise in costs during the period.
Net debt fell 37% to GBP18.4 million from GBP29.0 million the year before.
Henry Boot Chair Jamie Boot hailed "yet another strong financial performance, while replenishing the longer-term property development opportunities within the business".
''We anticipate that 2019 will be a challenging year, as the UK real estate sector adapts to the marketplace following the UK's decision to leave the EU," Boot added. "Nevertheless, I remain confident that we will achieve sector-leading results, despite the challenges we face, as we continue to build an extensive pipeline of opportunities in each of our businesses."
Henry Boot proposed a 5.80 pence per share final dividend, up 12% from 5.20p the year prior. For the full year, the dividend rose 13% to 9.00p from 8.00p the year before.
Henry Boot Chief Executive Officer John Sutcliffe added: "We continue to take a long-term strategic approach to land promotion and property development while at the same time focusing on the delivery of the existing pipeline which should enable us to produce good results for the years ahead."
Net asset value per share increased 12% to 227 pence from 203p the year prior. This was as it saw its strategic land acreage grow 8.0% to 14,325 acres from 13,273 acres the year before.
"2019 has started well throughout the group and will see us delivering significant schemes across the whole spectrum of our strategic land, property investment and development, housebuilding and construction businesses," Sutcliffe added.
Shares in Henry Boot were 0.4% higher at 261.00 pence on Friday.
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