LONDON (Alliance News) - Irish commercial property investor Green REIT PLC on Monday said its net asset value per share pushed higher in the financial year to the end of June and said its pretax profit surged higher, boosted by a massive rise in its rental income.
Green REIT said its pretax profit for the year to the end of June was EUR156.7 million, sharply higher from the EUR43.1 million profit it made a year earlier, primarily due to a EUR113.8 million gain it made on the valuation of its properties and a EUR32.4 million boost from its joint ventures, all of which benefited heavily from the recovery in Irish property markets over the course of the year.
The group's net rental income for the year was EUR37.8 million, a big increase on the EUR10.4 million it made a year earlier, as its portfolio occupancy level improved to 98% from 92% and as it made three acquisitions, including the Dublin-based Sapphire portfolio which it acquired in October 2014 for EUR375.0 million, its largest single acquisition to date. It also acquired Dawson Street in Dublin and One Albert Quay in Cork.
The company said its net asset value per share at the end of the year was 134.8 euro cents, up from 109.1 cents a year earlier, as its net asset value increased to EUR899.3 million from EUR727.8 million.
The group will pay a 1.6 euro cents per share dividend, or a total payout of EUR10.5 million.
"This is a strong set of results for the company's second year of operation. Our strategy of investing shareholders' equity early in the Irish recovery cycle to assemble a portfolio of high quality properties is working well, and we look forward to exploiting the opportunities within the portfolio to add further value," said Chairman Gary Kennedy.
Shares in Green REIT were up 1.6% to EUR1.494 on Monday morning.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.