29th Oct 2015 10:42
LONDON (Alliance News) - Construction and property company J Smart & Co (Contractors) PLC on Thursday posted higher pretax profit for the year to the end of July thanks to margin improvements and a property revaluation, as revenue declined
J Smart said pretax profit for the year was GBP3.5 million, not far off triple the GBP1.2 million it made a year earlier. Revenue declined to GBP20.8 million from GBP22.8 million but this was more than offset by a decline in its cost of sales to GBP18.1 million from GBP22.5 million and by a one-off gain on a property revaluation.
The company will pay a final dividend of 2.10 pence per share, up from 2.04p a year earlier, bringing its total payout to 3.02p.
Construction work in the year declined, hit hard by a fall in demand from the private residential sector, which offset a solid performance elsewhere in the business. The group said occupancy levels at its industrial estates remain solid, though its commercial office occupancy levels are struggling.
"Taking the foregoing into account and the fragile state of the current economic recovery, it is not possible at this stage to make an informed forecast of the outcome for the current year," the company said.
Shares in J Smart were down 0.4% Thursday at 100.65 pence following the mid-morning announcement.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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