Fletcher King PLC - London-based chartered surveyors - For six months ended October 31, revenue declines to GBP869,000 from GBP1.3 million and swings to pretax loss of GBP447,000 from profit of GBP108,000 last year. Skips interim dividend having paid out 1.00 pence per share last year. Remains focused on long term shareholder returns and will look to restart distributions as soon as prudently appropriate to do so. Says it remains in good position to withstand the current economic crisis and is well supported by a strong balance sheet.
Chair David Fletcher says: "The economic environment remains highly uncertain and it is unclear how significantly the longer term economic impact of Covid-19 will weigh on corporate and investor sentiment. The recent positive news on vaccine development offers hope that the commercial property market may start to improve in 2021, but the pace and extent at which this materialises is very difficult to predict. It is likely that the remainder of the financial year will continue to be affected by the Covid-19 pandemic with transaction-based fees materially lower than would otherwise be expected. We therefore expect to report a loss for the full financial year."
Current stock price: 37.5 pence
Year-to-date change: down 20%
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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Fletcher King (FLK)