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LONDON (Alliance News) - First Property Group PLC Tuesday raised its total dividend for the year to end-March, as its profit was boosted by the investment and sale of two UK office buildings.
The AIM-listed commercial property fund management company raised its total dividend to 1.12 pence from 1.08 pence in the previous year.
First Property posted a pretax profit of GBP6.6 million, up from GBP3.5 million, as revenue rose to GBP18.0 million from GBP10.6 million, driven the company's UK developments, including its investment in and sale of two office buildings in Woking and Bracknell.
It made around GBP3.8 million from the two properties during the year.
The company noted that whilst the one-off gains from the sale of the properties would "not be easy to repeat", it is confident that development activities from its Fprop PDR LP fund would yield "healthy profits" in the current year.
It also expects the FOP fund to continue investing in Poland, which would also add to earnings.
The company manages seven closed-end funds, and added Fprop PDR during the year. As at March 31 its assets under management was GBP341 million, down from GBP353 million in the previous year.
First Property Group's only direct holding its a 48.2% interest in the Blue Tower office building in Warsaw. The company said that its investment in the property had provide to be "excellent", and it plans to acquire a greater interest in the property if an opportunity arises.
The property contributed GBP1.26 million to pre-tax profit during the year.
"The very significant headwinds the property industry has experienced over the last few years seem to have abated, with economic growth becoming established in the UK and continuing in Poland," Chief Executive Ben Habib said in a statement. "I therefore look to the future with continued optimism."
Shares in First Property were trading down 2.7% at 30.15 pence Tuesday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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