29th Nov 2018 10:58
LONDON (Alliance News) - LXI REIT PLC on Thursday hiked its dividend payout on the back of increased profit and portfolio growth.
For the six months to the end of September, the real estate investment trust declared a dividend per share of 2.75 pence, up from 1.00p the year before.
EPRA net asset value per share as at September 30 stood at 113.00p, up 7.6% from 105.01p the same date the prior year.
Pretax profit for the six-month period totaled GBP17.1 million, nearly doubled from GBP9.7 million, on a slight increase in the fair value of investment property to GBP8.7 million from GBP8.5 million, and a one-off gain on a property disposal of GBP2.9 million.
Rental income nearly quadrupled to GBP8.2 million from GBP2.6 million the prior year.
LXI REIT's investment property as at September 30 was valued at GBP318.8 million, up from GBP159.9 million the year before, as the number of separate tenants increased to 29 from 17.
"This has been another busy and successful six months, implementing our investment strategy, delivering on and in many cases exceeding our targets. The secure income and capital growth of our portfolio has provided a total NAV return of 8.1% in the first half of the year and we are on track to meet and fully cover our 5.50 pence dividend target for the full year," said Chairman Stephen Hubbard.
Shares in LXI REIT were down 0.9% at 116.50p on Thursday.
Related Shares:
LXI.L