1st Sep 2020 10:20
(Alliance News) - Raven Property Group Ltd on Tuesday said it swung to a loss in the first half of 2020 as a weaker rouble resulted in substantial foreign exchange losses.
The company, which invests in warehouse complexes in Russia, posted a pretax loss of GBP26.7 million for the six months ended June 30, swinging from a GBP33.6 million profit the year before.
Raven made a GBP23.8 million foreign currency loss as a result of a weaker rouble, swinging from an GBP18.9 million profit on foreign currency the year before.
Further hurting profit was an 8.1% reduction in gross revenue to GBP80.6 million from GBP87.7 million.
Net asset value per share fell to 58 pence as at June 30 from 75p at the end of 2019.
During the interim period, Raven confirmed payment of a final distribution for 2019 of 2.25p per share by way of a tender offer buyback of 1 in 16 ordinary share at 36p per share.
Chief Executive Glyn Hirsch: "It looks like global interest rates will stay low for some time and with reliable investment yields likely to become an increasingly scarce commodity, it is reasonable to expect high quality yielding assets to increase in value. We own a high quality portfolio of assets in the best real estate class in the world, with a fifteen year track record of reliable cash flows. These assets are currently valued on a yield of 11% with underlying income in roubles and annual indexation of around 5%. Russia is not for everyone but on an objective financial analysis, it is one of the strongest and least leveraged economies in the world today. We look forward to the future with confidence."
Shares in Raven were up 1.0% in London at 30.10p . They were untraded in South Africa, having last closed at ZAR9.50
By Anna Farley; [email protected]
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