Cardiff Property grows profits, but gives cautious outlook

Cardiff Property, the London-listed developer focused on the Thames Valley, reported a 10% increase in annual profits and declared a higher dividend on Thursday, but delivered a cautious outlook regarding how policy changes could affect the property market.

Chairman J Richard Wollenberg warned investors that the year ahead "will have its challenges", with recent policies announced in October's Autumn Budget still being digested by the market.

"There is no doubt that many tenants and investors withdrew from the property market over the past few months awaiting the outcome of new tax and investment policies," Wollenberg said.

"The cauldron of measures announced will be unhelpful to the property market. Investors and the business community will no doubt form their own conclusions over the coming months. I remain of the view that any major reductions in interest rates will take longer than anticipated."

Group pre-tax profit totalled £1.39m in the year ended 30 September, up from £1.26m the year before, with net assets edging higher to £30.42m from £29.98m.

The company said that activity in the Thames Valley commercial property market continued to show some signs of recovery during the year "albeit at a slow pace".

Cardiff Property declared a final dividend of 17.0p per share, taking the total payout for the year to 23.5p per share, up 6.8% on last year.