Last checked at 
(Alliance News) - Fletcher King PLC on Friday reported a swing to annual loss on declining revenue but said it was cautiously optimistic about the new year.
The London-based company, which provides asset management and property valuation services, reported a 22% drop in revenue for the financial year that ended April 30 to GBP2.3 million from GBP2.9 million. Fletcher King swung to a pretax loss of GBP834,000 from a GBP76,000 profit the year before.
The dividend for the year was scrapped, after a 0.5p per share payout was declared in 2020.
Shares dived 8.9% in early trading in London to 41.00 pence each.
Fletcher King blamed the poor year of trading on a difficult commercial property industry due to the virus pandemic, with results hampered by what it described as "ever-changing Covid-19 regulations and lockdowns" which created an "extreme level of uncertainty" resulting in both occupiers and investors delaying their decision making.
A strong balance sheet was highlighted, with cash reserves of GBP2.9 million at year-end, although this was 20% lower than GBP3.6 million the year before.
"It has been a challenging year and only the second in the history of the company that we have reported a loss," commented Chair David Fletcher.
Looking to the future, Fletcher said that the company was "reasonably optimistic" for the year ahead but that it remains difficult to predict the outcome with any certainty.
"We anticipate returning to profit, although it may not be in the first half. Our balance sheet remains strong with good cash reserves", Fletcher added.
By Will Paige; willpaige@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
