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LONDON (Alliance News) - Picton Property Income Ltd on Tuesday said it outperformed its benchmark in its financial year and increased its net assets, but said it was cautious over the short-term outlook in light of last week's vote for the UK to leave the European Union.
The commercial property investor posted a total return of 17.0% for the year ended March 31, outperforming its benchmark, the MSCI IPD Quarterly Benchmark, at 11.3%, but coming in below the 27.4% posted a year earlier. The company's profit after tax was GBP64.8 million, down from the GBP68.9 million reported a year earlier, due to a smaller gain in its investment property valuation.
However, Picton said its EPRA net asset value per share rose 13% to 77 pence, up from 69p a year earlier, and its EPRA earnings per share rose to 3.7p from 3.4p. The company's portfolio occupancy rose to 96% from 95% a year earlier, and Picton noted it has invested a further GBP73.0 million into the property market since March 2015.
The company announced a dividend of 3.30 pence per share for the year, up from the 3.00p per share dividend offered a year earlier.
Picton noted that it was cautious over its short-term outlook in light of last week's UK vote to leave the European Union, which it said is "bound to cause a further period of uncertainty, and more volatility in the markets".
"In line with the wider real estate equities market, our share price performance has lagged the growth in net asset value. With the EU referendum vote last week, the share price discount has widened and currently stands at 15% to the March net asset value. A primary focus of the board is to ensure that this does not disrupt our operational progress," Chairman Nicholas Thompson said.
Shares in Picton were up 6.8% at 61.40 pence on Tuesday.
By Hannah Boland; hannahboland@alliancenews.com; @Hannaheboland
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