22nd Jul 2020 10:41
(Alliance News) - St Modwen Properties PLC on Wednesday said its net asset value declined in its half-year as its portfolio valuation fell amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Shares in the FTSE 250-listed property investor were down 5.3% at 335.81 pence in London on Wednesday morning.
NAV per share fell to 423.1p as at May 31 from 484.2p at November end. EPRA net tangible assets per share, meanwhile, reduced to 430.8p from 490.8p. EPRA NTA is similar to EPRA NAV but adds back a smaller amount of deferred tax and excludes intangibles.
Interim Chief Executive Rob Hudson said the "results reflect the impact of the Covid-19 crisis during the half year" with NAV down as a result of a 12% portfolio valuation reduction. Of this, 43% of the reduction related to two of St Modwen's residential sites in South Wales due to "an increase in development risk premium, changes in legislation, Section 106 and remediation cost".
The Birmingham-headquartered company declared an interim dividend of 1.1p per share, less than a third of the previous year's 3.6p per share dividend. The company cancelled its final 2019 dividend in response to the pandemic.
St Modwen made a pretax loss of GBP158.1 million for the six months ended May 31, swinging from a GBP28.1 million profit. Revenue fell to GP120.5 million from GBP173.2 million.
Hudson said: "Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic our focus has been on protecting our people and customers and preserving our strong financial position. Whilst our results for the half year reflect the disruption of the crisis, our decisive actions have worked to rebuild the momentum achieved over recent years, with strong demand for industrial-logistics space and new homes.
"Although the wider economic outlook will remain uncertain for some time to come, structural growth trends in these key markets for us remain positive and, to an extent, have even accelerated further. With our proven strategy and solid balance sheet, we stand well placed for future growth."
By Anna Farley; [email protected]
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