Daejan H1 up, but worries over Brexit, UK business

Property investment company Daejan Holdings said first-half pre-tax profits rose despite modest or flat growth in its UK and US markets.

Profit before tax rose to £61.1m from £56.6m after accounting for a net valuation gain on investment properties of £32.5m, up from £29.5m.

Daejan said it continued to see “some increase in rental income in the UK and USA, primarily driven by the letting of completed development projects”, although it warned that Brexit was a “challenging environment for our UK business”.

“In the USA the economic outlook is more encouraging and should provide a positive environment to grow our business.”

It said principal risk factors affecting the remainder of the financial year continued to be exposure to movements in the valuation of the group's investment properties, movements in the sterling/dollar exchange rate and the incidence of voids and bad debts.

An interim dividend of 35p per share was declared.