Stenprop declares dividend for past six months

STENPROP, the listed property fund with a primary listing on the Bermuda Stock Exchange and a secondary listing on the JSE’s AltX, expects to declare a dividend of 4.2c for the six months to September.

The fund said yesterday that it expected to make two distributions during its current financial year totalling 8.5c a share, on the back of anticipated adjusted diluted European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA) earnings a share of 10.32c for the year to March next year.

Stenprop, which was reporting on its results for the three months to June in terms of the rules of the Bermuda Stock Exchange, confirmed it still intended to migrate to the main board of the JSE in the third quarter of its current financial year.

Basic earnings attributable to ordinary shareholders increased in the three months to June to 7.09 million (R108m) from R456 946 in the corresponding period last year

This equates to diluted earnings a share of 2.6c in the reporting period compared with 2.86c in the prior period.

The group, which has property assets in the UK, Germany and Switzerland, made a number of acquisitions during the reporting period.

It acquired a 50 percent interest in May in Regent Arcade House Holdings in the UK, which owns the property known as 25 Argyll Street in London, for £18.9m.

Stenprop said the purchase of the Victoria retail centre in the Lichtenberg district of Berlin for 20.6m was notarised in June and was expected to be completed later this month.

Post the three month reporting period, Stenprop acquired the retail centre Hermann Quartier in Berlin for 22.7m.

It said this property was on a high street location of Berlin’s suburb of Neukölln, and had excellent public transport links, including an underground station inside the shopping centre.

“Based on indicative fiveyear swap rates, the return on equity is expected to exceed 7 percent per annum at inception,” it said.

Stenprop shares on the JSE yesterday rose by 1.14 percent to R22.25.