20th Mar 2018 08:23
In February, Hansteen had agreed to sell off the Industrial Multi Property Trust portfolio for
However, the group said it believes the opportunities to reinvest the resulting cash deposits in properties fitting Hansteen's model are limited, due to the current high levels of demand for industrial property.
As the surplus cash would earn no interest and in fact dilute the returns from the business, Hansteen is considering the return of
Shares in Hansteen Holdings were up 1.0% at
The cash-return proposal is conditional on shareholder approval at a general meeting on April 11.
"While opportunities to acquire properties or portfolios from which we can generate value are likely to be limited, we continue to see good potential to drive further value growth both through increasing income from our remaining portfolio by improving occupancy and growing rental levels and capitalising on the demand for industrial assets from the investment market," said Joint Chief Executive Morgan Jones.
For 2017, Hansteen reported a pretax profit of
Normalised income profit for the year, which comprises of the recurring earnings of the business, dropped to
Also a result of the sale of the German and Dutch portfolio, the group's rental income fell to
"Notwithstanding the real challenges surrounding the EU exit process, we have not seen any negative effect on our tenants' take up of space. E-commerce continues to enhance demand, which combined with limited availability and little new supply is driving rental growth. We are well positioned to continue to benefit from this demand," said Chairman Melvyn Egglenton.
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