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LONDON (Alliance News) - Property firm J Smart & Co Contractors PLC retained its interim dividend Monday after its half year profit expanded despite revenue falling and as it expects full year results below the year prior.
For the six months ended January, pretax profit expanded to GBP921,000 from GBP652,000 the year prior. This was despite revenue falling to GBP6.8 million from GBP12.0 million the year before.
Profit performance was helped by a sharper fall in cost of sales to GBP5.3 million from GBP11.3 million the year prior. This helped boost gross profit to GBP1.5 million from GBP746,000 the year prior.
Smart declared a 0.95 pence per share interim dividend, flat on the payout the year prior.
"We have less work in hand in contracting than the same time last year," J Smart Chairman David Smart said. "Margins are no better than last year. Our social housing contract at Ferrymuir, as predicted, has been unnecessarily delayed, but will start imminently."
"There will be no private residential sales this financial year," David Smart added, "but the interest in the first release of flats at West Bowling Green Street has been positive."
"The letting and re-letting of the majority of our industrial properties continues to be buoyant," David Smart continued. "The first phase of our joint venture industrial development at Gartcosh is due to start in the near future. Lettings of our office properties has seen a welcome, but marginal, improvement."
"It is not possible to make an accurate forecast of the year end figures, but it is evident that our reduced turnover will result in the underlying profit for the financial year being less than the previous year," David Smart said.
For the year ended July 2017, Smart generated GBP4.0 million pretax profit on revenue of GBP25.4 million.
Shares in Smart were 0.2% lower at 109.75 pence on Monday.