(Alliance News) - Tritax Big Box REIT PLC on Tuesday warned that its positive performance in 2019 may not continue as strongly in 2020 amid the Covid-19 epidemic.
The stock was 20% lower in London in morning trade at 79.65 pence a share.
The FTSE 250-listed real estate investment trust posted net asset value per share as at December 31 of 151.06p, down 1.2% from 152.83p reported on the same day a year prior.
More positively, Tritax Big Box said its portfolio value increased by 15% over 2019 to GBP3.94 billion from GBP3.42 billion. What's more, contracted annual rent roll rose by 3.4% to GBP166.6 million from GBP161.1 million year-on-year.
"Early positivity in the occupational and investment markets may be tempered by coronavirus, which is already impacting global growth," warned Chair Richard Jewson.
"With renewed global economic uncertainty, we think it is more important than ever to stress the quality and longevity of our income stream together with embedded income growth," added Jewson.
Tritax Big Box upped its dividend per share by 2.2% in 2019 to 6.85p from 6.70p paid the year prior. For 2020, the company said it is aiming for a further 2.2% increase to 7.00p per share.
The company said pretax profit in 2019 was GBP141.2 million, down by almost a half from GBP252.6 million reported a year earlier, due to changes in fair value of investment properties.
By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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Tritax Big Box (BBOX)