Turnstar cancels dividends

Local property group, Turnstar Holdings, has advised shareholders that it will not pay a final dividend for its year ended January 31, 2020, as part of a plan to conserve cash and ride out the impact of the coronavirus. For the first time in the group’s history, directors said the dividend would have to be foregone, as there was a need to be prudent and retain cash within the company to “tide over these difficult times when trading conditions are almost impossible to forecast”. In results announced this week, the property group’s pretax profits for the reporting period fell to P94.1 million from P121.3 million, due largely to negative fair value adjustments for its Tanzanian investments. Directors warned that while the various cash flow scenarios prepared on the coronavirus’ impact showed Turnstar’s books would still be comfortable, there was an effort underway to cut costs at every opportunity. Turnstar will not print an Annual Report this year, but rather email a PDF version to shareholders.