TR Property benefits from weak pound post Brexit vote

TR property, an investment trust focused on the property sector, has been boosted by the drop in the pound since Britain decided to leave the European Union.

The FTSE 250 company’s net asset value (NAV) per share rose 9% to 365.78p in the first half ended 30 September 2016, while shareholders’ funds rose 9% to £1.2m.

Net debt rose slightly to 12.2% from 11.9% and gearing was 12.2% close to the level at year end in March at 11.9%.

Revenue earnings per share rose 29.6% to 7.14p. Earnings per share are almost 30% ahead of the prior year at this interim stage at 7.14p.

Net interim dividend per share rose 30.2% to 4.10p. Interim dividend was 4.10p up from 3.15p.

Chairman Hugh Seaborn said: “The first six months of this financial year was, as expected, dominated by the UK referendum. One of the initial consequences of the outcome was the weakening of Sterling and the asset value of your company was a significant beneficiary given the appreciation of our European assets when measured in Sterling. The Trust's asset value rose 10.7%, ahead of the benchmark which recorded 9.7%.”

He pointed out that while UK property shares fell 3.8% over the period, the trust's UK physical portfolio held up "relatively well" falling just 1.5% in value, which reflected the fact that one third of the physical portfolio's income is the new 20-year lease to Waitrose subject to 3% per annum rent uplifts.

Looking towards full year results, the board expect the figures to be “comfortably ahead of the prior year, although with so much political uncertainty globally having an impact on all markets, changes in the portfolio composition as a result of further developments may alter the income position to some extent”.

The share price fell 0.32% to 283.60p at 0914 GMT on Thursday.