Hansteen H1 profit jumps following portfolio sale

Industrial property investor Hansteen reported a 186% jump in first-half profit on Wednesday following the sale of its German and Dutch portfolio.

In the six months to the end of June, pre-tax profit rose to £156.5m from £54.8m in the same period a year ago as the company sold its German and Dutch portfolio for €1.28bn, representing a premium of around 6% to the 31 December 2016 valuation and generating a pre-tax profit of £47.9m.

The company also saw a property valuation increase of 2.3% or £17.4m on the remaining total portfolio, while EPRA net asset value per share was up 2.8% to 132.5p. Meanwhile, revenue increased to £28.8m from £12m in the first half of last year.

Chairman Melvyn Egglenton said: "After an extremely busy and successful period, with completion of the sale of the German and Dutch portfolio for €1.28bn, the acquisition of Industrial Multi Property Trust and the settlement of €100m of convertible bonds, it is very pleasing to report record profits and net asset value.

"Looking forward, following the proposed return to shareholders, our projections indicate that there is scope to increase dividends, on a fully covered basis, compared to the historic levels."