Schroder Real Estate Investment Trust (SREI) has cut its dividends to match rental profits following the major refinancing deal with Canada Life announced last month. The old rate of 0.88p a share will be paid to shareholders for the current quarter despite post-tax net revenue of just 0.5p. But in subsequent quarters the payout will be 0.62p a share, giving a yield of 6.2 per cent on the current share price of 40p.
The company's net asset value fell 3 per cent from 46.5p to 45.1p. The most significant cash contributor was the breaking of swaps associated with a January debt repayment. Paper losses on the property portfolio - marked down £4.6m or 1.3p a share - were another factor, although they were largely offset by paper gains on the rest of the swap portfolio as interest rates rose over the quarter.
