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LONDON (Alliance News) - Town Centre Securities PLC on Wednesday reported a large rise in annual profit due to portfolio revaluation gains and disposals made in the period.
In the year ended June, the property investment and development company almost tripled pretax profit to GBP18.4 million from GBP6.7 million.
The company's revenue increased 9.8% to GBP30.2 million from GBP27.5 million.
Town Centre Securities had a valuation gain on investment properties in the period of GBP5.9 million from a GBP2.1 million loss the year before.
The company's overall like-for-like portfolio valuation increased 3.2%. The like-for-like valuation of its investment property portfolio increased 0.5% and like-for-like development property increased 34%.
The company also had a GBP1.7 million profit on disposal in the year, up from GBP303,000 the year before.
The investment company increased its net asset value per share in the period by 7% to 384.0 pence from 359.0 pence.
Town Centre Securities' total property return was 9.4%, slightly ahead of the MSCI All Property Index return of 9.3%.
The company said its occupancy "remains high" at 95% but lower than the 99% at the end of the previous year. This reflects newly created units being marketed and a temporary vacancy in Scotland whilst an asset is redeveloped.
The company is recommending a final dividend of 8.50 pence per share, giving a total dividend of 11.75p.
The total dividend proposed this year is a 2.2% increase on the 11.50p paid in financial year 2017.
Town Centre Securities said it has reduced its exposure to retail and leisure in portfolio to 55% from 70% in the past two years.
This "progress" gives the company confidence about the future.
Chairman and Chief Executive Edward Ziff, said: "The business has undergone considerable change in recent years as part of a strategy to reposition the portfolio, ensure a resilient income stream, and to unlock growth for the future.
"In those two years we have disposed of over 8% of the portfolio, during which time we have managed to hold EPRA profitability broadly flat and have increased NAV by 8%. Furthermore, we have strengthened the balance sheet, improved our banking facilities and lowered leverage. Our recent financing activity increased capital headroom, however we continue to explore new capital raising options in order to facilitate our significant development pipeline."
Shares in Town Centre Securities were up 1.2% Wednesday at 259.99 pence each.
