6th Sep 2018 11:56
LONDON (Alliance News) - Hunters Property PLC said Thursday that "robust" half-year results have underpinned its confidence in a full year outcome in which the second half will outperform the first.
For the six months to June 30, the sales and lettings agency said pretax profit rose to GBP263,000 from GBP191,000, driven by lower acquisition and share-based payment expenses.
Business combination acquisition costs dropped to GBP2,000 from GBP49,000, while share-based expenses amounted to GBP33,000, down year-on-year from GBP63,000.
Meanwhile, revenue was flat at GBP6.7 million. Network income increased 2% to GBP17.9 million from GBP17.6 million in the comparative year ago period.
"We have delivered robust results in the six months to June 2018 against a backdrop of markets that have continued to contract in terms of completed sales transactions, which HMRC reported as at June as being down 8.8% as against the same period last year," Chief Executive Officer Glynis Frew said.
The agent increased its interim dividend by 14% year-on-year to 0.8 pence per share from 0.7p.
"The board remains confident the second half will, as usual, outperform the first and remains in line to exceed last year's full year performance despite completed sales for the market as a whole reporting a 9% decline," the company added.
For 2017, revenue was GBP14.2 million and pretax profit stood at GBP1.0 million.
Shares in the company were down 2.2% at 48.50p each on Thursday.
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