26th Mar 2021 16:03
(Alliance News) - Starwood European Real Estate Finance Ltd on Friday said it will focus on its existing investments and isn't planning to issue new shares, after reporting 2020 results that showed little change to its portfolio.
The investment company reported a net asset value of 104.18 pence per share at the end of 2020, up 0.9% from 103.23p a year ago. Operating profit before tax rose 7.1% to GBP30.0 million from GBP28.0 million.
Total dividends for the year were flat at 6.5p per share. The company plans to cut payouts to 5.5p per share starting this year because of lower interest rates, a policy first announced in July 2020.
Shares were up 0.6% to 84.70p in London.
The Guernsey-based company, which invests in real estate debt, said it started slowing down new loan sales from March 2020 because of the pandemic.
It said it will continue to focus on its existing portfolio in 2021. However it also expects "good origination opportunities", and said it should benefit from a significant reduction in balance sheet lending by banks.
The company said it does not intend to issue new shares while the discount to net asset value persists, but it will "maintain its capacity to access capital" in the expectation that the market will improve.
By Ivan Edwards; [email protected]
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