"We've had to pay a price for maintaining occupancy at 97 per cent. We're working very hard to stand still," says Edward Ziff, chairman, chief executive and major shareholder of Town Centre Securities.
The Leeds-based property company makes no secret of its exposure to the tough regional retail market. It signed roughly 100 lettings and lease renewals over the year, but, on average, at slightly lower rents. That, and disposals in the prior year, reduced rental income by £0.5m. Mr Ziff also agreed a new £90m package of loans with its banks late last year at an interest rate of 4.8 per cent, up from 4.6 per cent, which increased finance costs by about £0.5m. With earnings squeezed at both ends, underlying earnings per share (stripping out property revaluations) fell from 15.1p to 13.6p - though that still covered the 10.4p dividend comfortably enough.
Falling rental values also had a knock-on impact on the portfolio valuation, which finished the year 2.8 per cent lower. Together with capital expenditure, the deficit totalled £11.4m, pushing statutory earnings into the red.
Brokerage Oriel Securities expects net asset value per share of 262p for 2013.
TOWN CENTRE SECURITIES (TCSC) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 181p | MARKET VALUE: | £96m | |
| TOUCH: | 180-183p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 191p | LOW: 130p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 5.8% | DEVELOPMENT PROP: | £13.4m | |
| DISCOUNT TO NAV: | 33% | |||
| INVESTMENT PROP: | £277m* | NET DEBT: | 101% | |
| Year to 30 Jun | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 420 | -67.6 | -21.0 | 8.15 |
| 2009 | 202 | -112.6 | -210.3 | 8.15 |
| 2010 | 269 | 39.3 | 74.6 | 10.36 |
| 2011 | 288 | 15.4 | 28.8 | 10.44 |
| 2012 | 270 | -4.13 | -7.9 | 10.44 |
| % change | -6 | -127 | -127 | - |
Ex-div: 6 Mar Payment: 8 Apr *Including £2.6m of investments in joint ventures | ||||
