First Property climbs as profits set to 'significantly exceed' expectations

First Property Group's shares climbed on Wednesday after stating that its annual profit before tax is "likely to significantly exceed" market expectations of £6.8m.

The AIM traded property fund manager and investor, which has operations in the UK and Central Europe, added that funds under management at the year-end date of 31 March amounted to £705m, an increase of 12.6% from the prior year, with £611m of this held for clients, marking an increase of 34.6%.

Ben Habib, group chief executive at First Property, said: "The group is trading well across the board. The markets in which we operate are generally buoyant and offering interesting investment opportunities on which we hope to capitalise."

First Property Group's shares were up 9.05% at 51.80p at 1143 BST.