Strip out the impact of the weakening euro and Aim-traded fund manager First Property Group (FPO) is performing strongly. On a constant-currency basis, assets under management fell about 2 per cent due to property write-downs, but that was more than made up by income returns of 21.1 per cent in the Polish portfolios and 6.5 per cent in the ungeared UK portfolio. Pre-tax profits would also have been up but for currency movements.
The company neither bought nor sold properties during the period, but that will soon change. Chief executive Ben Habib called a halt both to fundraising and asset purchases when the euro-crisis erupted in earnest last year, but has recently become more confident. "There's much greater clarity in capital markets now. We don't think the euro will explode," he explains. He is currently in negotiations to buy a number of assets for the Polish Fprop Opportunities fund that - if they all went through - would boost assets under management by a "transformational" £70m.
Revenue rose due to the sale of a Warsaw office building for £2.3m. That leaves First Property with one remaining building on its own books - the Blue Tower office block, also in Warsaw and held at cost. Net assets were nonetheless up 6.3 per cent to £17.8m due to the company's exceptionally strong cash generation.
Broker Arden Partners expects full-year adjusted pre-tax profits of £3.5m, giving EPS of 2.3p (from £3.8m and 2.7p in 2012).
FIRST PROPERTY GROUP (FPO) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 19p | MARKET VALUE: | £21.1m | |
| TOUCH: | 18.5-19p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 21p | 16p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 5.7% | PE RATIO: | 7 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 16p | NET DEBT: | 67% | |
| Half-year to 30 Sep | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 4.59 | 2.54 | 1.70 | 0.33 |
| 2012 | 6.55 | 2.21 | 1.54 | 0.33 |
| % change | +43 | -13 | -9 | - |
Ex-div: 12 Dec Payment: 11 Jan | ||||
