LONDON (Alliance News) - Shaftesbury PLC on Wednesday said its pretax profit more than halved during the first half of its financial year on a much lower revaluation surplus, as it said it was poaching property developer Great Portland Estates PLC's Non-Executive Director Jonathan Nicholls as its chairman designate.
The real estate investment trust, which owns retail, restaurant and leisure assets across London's West End, posted a pretax profit of GBP80.1 million for the six months ended March 31, down from GBP180.2 million for the same period a year earlier.
Net property income increased to GBP42.1 million from GBP38.7 million, boosting revenue to GBP53.4 million from GBP48.4 million. Like-for-like growth in rents receivable was 8.9%, Shaftesbury said.
The lower pretax profit, therefore, came as Shaftesbury posted a valuation surplus of GBP58.2 million for the six month period, down from GBP183.2 million a year earlier.
Shaftesbury said during the period however, it had continued to invest in its portfolio, having redeveloped and refurbished schemes across 150,000 square feet. Capital expenditure in the period fell to GBP12.8 million from GBP14.3 million for the same period a year earlier.
Shaftesbury declared an interim dividend of 7.15 pence per share, up from 6.825p a year earlier.
The company noted that, whilst there were "some emerging concerns regarding national economic trends and current political uncertainties, the West End's economy continues to flourish, benefiting from London's growing population and diverse economy. Importantly for us, retail and leisure spending generated by the visitor economy, and a very large local working population, continues to attract strong occupier demand across each of our locations."
"The opening of Crossrail, now only two years away, will increase transport capacity and is expected to change West End footfall patterns significantly over time. With all our holdings within a short walk of the new transport interchanges at Tottenham Court Road and Bond Street, we expect to be a major beneficiary. Currently, we are undertaking three major refurbishment schemes, in Carnaby, Chinatown and Seven Dials, each of which is in close proximity to these new gateways to the West End," Shaftesbury added.
Elsewhere, Shaftesbury said it has appointed Jonathan Nicholls as a non-executive director, with Nicholls to then succeed Jonathan Lane as Chairman on October 1.
Nicholls currently has non-executive roles at Great Portland Estates, packaging company DS Smith PLC, brick manufacturer Ibstock PLC and building products supplier SIG PLC.
Shares in Shaftesbury were down 0.5% at 935.00 pence on Wednesday.
By Hannah Boland; hannahboland@alliancenews.com; @Hannaheboland
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