LONDON (Alliance News) - Property investor UK Commercial Property REIT Ltd said on Thursday it saw robust returns in the first half of 2018 in spite of continued political and economic uncertainty due to the ongoing Brexit negotiations.
Net asset value per share as at June 30 was 94.5 pence, up 1.8% from 92.8p as at December 31. This resulted in an NAV total return of 3.9% over the six month period.
Total income however dropped to GBP64.2 million from GBP72.7 million for the same period the year before, while pretax profit fell to GBP50.1 million from GBP60.0 million.
The company said its portfolio total return was 5.5%, mainly driven by a good performance in the office and industrial sectors, and outperforming the MSCI/IPD benchmark, which returned 4.0%.
UK Commercial Property paid in interim dividend of 1.84 pence per share, flat on the year before.
Immediately following the period, UK Commercial Property converted to a real estate investment trust and changed its name, in order to avoid significant additional tax it would have paid following the decision to bring non-resident landlords into UK corporations tax regime in April 2020 if it remained a Guernsey domiciled company.
"Our strategy to grow and recycle capital into a diverse commercial portfolio producing sustainable, high quality rental income has continued to yield sound results in what has been another active period for the company. The successful conversion to a REIT at the start of July is an important milestone for the business, making it one of the larger diversified REITs in the sector," said Chairman Andrew Wilson.
Shares in UK Commercial Property REIT were up 0.1% at 88.80 pence on Thursday.
