The Workspace Group Board is pleased to announce that this year an interim dividend of 9.0p per share (2022: 8.4p) will be paid on 2 February 2024 to shareholders on the register at 5 January 2024. The dividend will be paid as a REIT Property Income Distribution (PID) net of withholding tax where appropriate.
Other financial highlights include:
Net rental income up 9% (£4.9m) to £61.0m (September 2022: £56.1m)
Trading profit after interest up 7% to £31.1m (September 2022: £29.1m)
Property valuation of £2,505m, an underlying reduction of 6.6% (£178m) from 31 March 2023
Like-for-like portfolio valuation down 5.6% with equivalent yield out 45bps to 6.7%
Loss before tax of £147.9m (30 September 2022: £35.8m profit) reflecting the reduction in the property valuation
EPRA net tangible assets per share down 10.2% from 31 March 2023 to £8.32
Robust balance sheet with £133m of cash and undrawn facilities and LTV stable at 34% (30 September 2022: 33%)
Average cost of debt over the half year was 4.0% with 76% of debt at fixed rates
Bank facilities extended to April/December 2026 in November 2023, with a pro-forma weighted average maturity of drawn debt of 4.1 years as at 30 September 2023
