8th Jun 2016 06:50
LONDON (Alliance News) - Flexible office-space provider Workspace Group PLC on Wednesday hiked its dividend by 25% as it reported rises in both its property valuation and rental income over its financial year that ended March 31.
Workspace posted a final dividend of 10.19 pence per share, taking its full-year dividend to 15.05p per share, up 25% from the 12.04p per share paid for the year prior.
Net rental income rose 28% to GBP74.1 million from GBP57.7 million, driving up revenue to GBP101.2 million from GBP83.6 million, whilst Workspace's underlying property valuation increased by 21% to GBP1.78 billion from the GBP1.42 billion reported a year earlier.
The company posted an increase in pretax profit to GBP391.3 million from GBP360.0 million, and its EPRA net asset value per share rose by 31% to GBP9.2 million from GBP7.0 million.
Workspace said it had completed three refurbishments and one redevelopment over the year, and had achieved planning consents for three mixed-use redevelopments and two major refurbishments during the year.
However, Workspace noted that it expected to see "some reduction in activity levels" in June ahead of the UK referendum on European Union membership.
"It's been another very active year, in which we have continued to intensively manage our existing portfolio to create value through our refurbishment and redevelopment programme. We have also recycled capital by disposing of our industrial portfolio and reinvesting in targeted acquisitions to drive incremental returns for shareholders," said Chief Executive Jamie Hopkins.
"We are aware of the uncertainty caused by the upcoming EU referendum but remain confident in the resilience of our customer base and business model. We look forward to continuing to execute our strategy and the business remains in good financial shape to take advantage of our pipeline of redevelopment and refurbishment opportunities, as well as targeted acquisitions that meet our investment criteria,," Hopkins added.
By Hannah Boland; [email protected]; @Hannaheboland
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