Last checked at 10 Apr 2013 07:00
Date: | 10 April 2013 |
On behalf of: | First Property Group plc ("First Property" or the "Group") |
Embargoed for: | 07:00 |
First Property Group plc ("FPO" or the "Company")
Financial Year End Trading Statement
First Property Group plc (AIM: FPO), the commercial property fund management group with operations in the United Kingdom and Central Europe (principally Poland), today issues a trading update for the year ended 31 March 2013.
Profit before tax for the year is expected to meet broker forecasts. Preliminary results are scheduled to be announced on 05 June 2013 and an analyst meeting will be held at 09.30am at the offices of First Property Group plc, 35 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H, 9JA. A conference call facility will also be available on +44 (20) 3139 4830, pin number 33971633#.
Assets under management as at 31 March 2013 were £353 million (2012: £366 million), of which 71% by value were located in Poland, 26% by value in the UK and 3% by value in Romania.
The Polish economy continues to grow, albeit at a slower pace than in 2011 and 2010. Our Polish portfolio of properties continues to trade well.
The UK economy remains sluggish at best but our UK portfolio of properties was acquired during the credit crunch with the weakness of the economy factored into our investment decisions. Consequently that portfolio is also trading well.
Investor and lending confidence has risen since its lows in the first half of 2012, significantly assisted by central bank action in the USA, the UK and Europe. This has created a number of bubbles in various parts of the property market. Our resolute pursuit of income returns over capital gain should assist us in avoiding these bubbles.
We are seeing a number of attractive investment opportunities in both Poland and the UK and are in the process of securing these and raising additional funds to finance their acquisition.
Ben Habib, CEO of the Group, said:
"The Group has ended the year in excellent shape. This is now the sixth year of the credit crunch, a period during which we have remained profitable at all times and increased our dividend. Our client funds have also performed well against this difficult back drop.
"We are seeing a number of attractive investment opportunities both in Poland and the UK and expect to report on these in due course."
-Ends-
For further information please contact:
First Property Group plc | Tel: +44 (20) 7340 0270 |
Ben Habib (Chief Executive Officer) | www.fprop.com |
Jeremy Barkes (Director, Business Development)
| investor.relations@fprop.com |
Arden Partners (NOMAD & Broker) | Tel: +44 (20) 7614 5900 |
Chris Hardie (Director Corporate Finance ) | |
Redleaf Polhill (PR) | Tel: +44 (20) 382 4763 |
George Parrett / Henry Columbine | firstproperty@redleafpolhill.com |
Notes to investors and editors:
First Property Group plc is a co-investing direct commercial property fund manager with operations in the United Kingdom and Central Europe.
The investment performance of its funds under management in Poland and in Central Europe ranked No.1 versus the Investment Property Databank (IPD) universe for Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) over the three, four, five and six years to 31 December 2008, 2009, 2010 & 2011.
The business model of First Property Group is to:
·; Raise third party funds to invest in income producing commercial property;
·; Co-invest in these funds and thereby earn a return on its own capital invested;
·; Earn fees for the management of these funds. Fees earned are a function of the value of assets under management as well as the performance of the funds.
Further information about the Company and its products can be found at: www.fprop.com.