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(Alliance News) - Grainger PLC on Thursday reported a resilient first half with profit clawing itself higher, while the residential landlord added more properties to its repertoire.
Newcastle-headquartered Grainger reported pretax profit of GBP50.3 million in the six months to end March, inching 1.4% higher from GBP49.6 million a year prior.
This was off a boosted revenue of GBP101.3 million, 17% higher from GBP86.9 million.
Grainger maintained its interim dividend at 1.83 pence per share.
"During the six-month period we have driven customer retention, lettings and rental growth ahead of the market, leveraging our in-house operating platform. There is positive market evidence, including the 86% rise in lettings enquiries we have generated since the beginning of the year, which suggests a strong lettings market to come as we enter the peak summer period and all remaining lockdown restrictions are lifted," said Chief Executive Helen Gordon.
Grainger said it is also making continuous gains on the acquisition front.
"We continue to progress our well-established growth strategy, with new acquisitions for 490 new rental homes, major planning approvals secured for a further 618 new rental homes, and over 1,000 new rental homes to be delivered this year,"
Grainger additionally announced that it has agreed to forward-fund and acquire a 259-home build-to-rent scheme with St James Securities in Derby for GBP37.4 million.
Gordon said: "This acquisition in Derby is an exciting addition to our growing portfolio of high-quality rental homes in the Midlands, and our first scheme in Derby, a city which meets our strict investment criteria. Demand for high-quality rental homes in the city continues to grow, and this scheme will add greater scale to our Midlands cluster, improving our ability to drive efficiencies while delivering a great service to our customers."
Grainger shares were down 2.3% at 288.20 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
By Greg Roxburgh; gregroxburgh@alliancenews.com
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