LONDON (Alliance News) - Harworth Group PLC Wednesday said it had exceeded its expectations in its full year results, reporting a surge in both its pretax profit and revenue for the year ended December, largely due to its acquisition of Harworth Estates Property Group Ltd in March.
The property regeneration and investment company said its pretax profit for 2015 was GBP77.6 million, up from GBP3.5 million in 2014, after the company gained GBP44.2 million in pretax profit from the acquisition of the remaining 75% of shares in Harworth Estates Property Group Ltd. This meant its earnings per share for the year was 3.1 pence, up from 0.6p the previous year.
Its net assets increased to GBP297.7 million for 2015, from GBP58.7 million, and its revenue from operations was GBP13.2 million, up from GBP1.5 million.
However, the company added that on a like-for-like basis, the movement in net asset value was GBP47.4 million, reflecting the strong value gains achieved from its portfolio. Harworth Group said this was on the back of strong performances in both its Capital Growth segment, which develops the underlying portfolio, and Income Generation segment, which generates returns from the business park portfolio, energy generation technology and agricultural portfolio.
It said the gains in value from disposals and revaluation "significantly exceeded expectations" with total value gains of GBP40.4 million, up from GBP23.6 million.
Harworth Group said it would be paying a final dividend of 0.051p per share, subject to approval for a reduction of capital effected through the cancellation of the share premium account, which will be sought at the annual general meeting in April. This would mean that for this year the dividend would not be paid until September.
It added it anticipated a larger number of sales, increased development spend and further acquisitions in the current financial year.
"The group is positioned for further growth in net asset value, through the exploitation of portfolio opportunities by optimising land use and securing planning consents on key sites, and with a renewed focus on a smaller number of brownfield sites with greater enhancement potential," said Chief Executive Owen Michaelson.
Shares in Harworth Group were down 1.3% at 11.85p on Wednesday.
By Hannah Boland; hannahboland@alliancenews.com; @Hannaheboland
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