30th May 2018 09:13
LONDON (Alliance News) - LondonMetric Property PLC said Wednesday it has more than doubled its profit on an increased rental income and revaluation surplus.
For the 12 months ended March 31, LondonMetric posted pretax profit of GBP186.1 million compared to GBP63.0 million the year before. Net rental income for the property management company increased 11% to GBP90.6 million from GBP81.8 million the previous year.
The FTSE 250-listed company increased its net assets by 15% to GBP1.15 billion from GBP1.00 billion the year before. The company's portfolio value increased 20% to GBP1.84 billion from GBP1.53 billion.
LondonMetric say the profit gain is due to a "significant" revaluation surplus of GBP121.6 million during the year compared to GBP21.0 million last year.
The company increased its annual dividend by 5.3% to 7.9 pence from 7.5p the year before after declaring an interim dividend of 2.35p.
Looking ahead, the company believes it is in a position to "not only weather but benefit from short term fluctuations" in values.
In an "uncertain" economic and political environment, LondonMetric believes its model is "increasingly attractive". It does, however, remain "highly nervous" on the outlook of the retail sector.
In a "complex" world where "virtual tills" are ringing and "physical ones" are not, LondonMetric feels there will be "value destruction in parts of retail". We are not, according to the retail property investor, entering the final act.
Chief Executive Andrew Jones said: "Our objective of generating a repetitive and growing income stream continues to deliver strong returns, aided by our purposeful alignment towards modern shopping habits.
"Our early anticipation of these shifts and the global search for income led to our pivot towards distribution and long income assets which more accurately cater for modern shoppers' needs. Five years on from the merger that created LondonMetric, the company and its shareholders continue to see the benefits of this focused strategy.
"Economic compounding is the essence of long-term value creation. Our adoption of this principle, together with our occupier intelligence and property relationships has been instrumental in our success. Whilst we can never be totally immune, we believe that this approach gives us a competitive advantage to navigate these changing times, allows us to increase our earnings and, in turn, grow our dividends."
Shares in LondonMetric were down 0.3% Wednesday at 191.30 pence each.
Related Shares:
LondonMetric