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(Alliance News) - First Property Group PLC on Thursday maintained its final payout for financial 2020 despite reporting a 34% drop in profit and said it remains well-positioned to weather the coronavirus crisis and make judicial investments as the UK emerges from it.
The property fund manager said pretax profit for the year to March 31 decreased by 34% to GBP5.5 million from GBP8.3 million a year ago, mainly due to performance-related fees reducing to GBP415,000 from GBP1.54 million.
Annual revenue dipped to GBP16.3 million from GBP16.6 million.
The company ended the year with increased net assets, excluding non-controlling interests, of GBP48.1 million, or 43.53 pence per share, compared with GBP46.2 million, or 41.46p per share.
Chief Executive Ben Habib said: "We have had no need to draw on any of the support measures offered by the government in the wake of Covid-19 and are well-positioned to take advantage of investment opportunities that will undoubtedly emerge. We shall aim to do so in conjunction with our clients so as to further our fund management business."
First Property has decided to maintain its final dividend per share at 1.22p, which together with the interim dividend of 0.45p, equates to a dividend for financial 2020 of 1.67p, up from 1.66p paid a year ago.
Shares in First Property were down 4.4% at 39.20 pence each in London on Thursday afternoon.
By Tapan Panchal; tapanpanchal@alliancenews.com
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