(Alliance News) -Â St Modwen Properties PLC on Tuesday said its full-year results were hit by the Covid-19 health crisis, despite a "marked improvement" in the second half, but it still raised its dividend.
Net asset value per share fell 12% to 427.70 pence at the end of November from 484.2p a year ago, though the Birmingham-based property investor and developer noted 1.1% growth in the second half of the year.
Net rental and other income fell to GBP31.2 million in the year that ended November 30 from GBP40.1 million in financial 2019. Adjusted EPRA earnings per share fell to 9.9p from 17.4p, which the firm said was "due to temporary Covid-19 disruption of income".
"Following a positive start to 2020, the growing momentum in our business was interrupted at the end of March by the Covid-19 pandemic. We paused nearly all activities on our sites, before restarting activity safely in May," St Modwen said.
"Since then, we have rebuilt momentum and this is reflected in our operational results. The logistics space we completed during the year is 81% let or under offer, our order book in housebuilding is up 33%, and we sold GBP154m of assets, including GBP93m of surplus residential land."
St Modwen said it has continued to build on this momentum in the first months of 2021.
The company declared a total dividend of 5.0p for the year, up 28% from 3.9p in the 2019 financial year.
Shares in St Modwen were up 1.9% at 400.00p in London on Tuesday.
By Lucy Heming;Â lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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