LONDON (Alliance News) - Globalworth Real Estate Investments Ltd said on Wednesday it swung sharply into a profit for the first half of 2018 after high revenue growth, lower finance costs, and a higher fair value gain on investment properties.
The Europe-focused office property investor reported for the six months to the end of June a pretax profit of EUR64.0 million, swinging from a loss of EUR6.8 million a year before, coming from a sharp increase in the fair value gain on investment property to EUR38.6 million from EUR682,000.
There was also a reduction in finance costs to EUR20.5 million from EUR27.3 million, due to a reduction in interest on secured loans and debt cost amortisation.
Revenue more than doubled to EUR78.1 million from EUR34.9 million the prior year, as a result of Globalworth's expansion in Poland since December, through the acquisition of three income producing investments.
As at June 30, Globalworth has 28 standing investments and 47 standing properties in Romania and Poland within its portfolio value at EUR2.12 billion, up from EUR1.81 billion as at the end of December. Net asset value per share was EUR8.23 per share, up from EUR8.09 at the end of 2017.
Globalworth has paid an interim dividend of EUR0.27 per share, up from EUR0.22 the year before, and expects a full-year dividend of EUR0.54.
"Globalworth has continued to demonstrate strong momentum in 2018, led by its strategic expansion into Poland. We are delighted with the acquisitions we have made, which include two of the five largest office transactions in the Polish market so far this year, and we continue to assess further pipeline opportunities under attractive market conditions. The significant step-up in our financial results reflects the considerable expansion of our footprint over the past 12 months and the proactive management of our capital structure," said Chief Investment Officer Dimitris Raptis.
Shares in Globalworth Real Estate were untraded on Wednesday, last quoted at EUR9.30.
Globalworth (GWI)