Sirius boosts revenue 10%, increases dividend and NAV

Sirius Real Estate, owner and manager of branded business parks throughout Germany, said recently that first-half pretax profit fell despite a rise in revenue and that it has increased its dividend.

The London and Johannesburg-listed Sirius said that for the six months ended Sept. 30 pre-tax profit fell 22% to €62.2 million), from €79.7 million a year prior, on the back of weaker valuation gains compared to fiscal 2020, from €58.2m to €31.9m.

The company declared a dividend of 1.82 euro cents a share for the second half, up 2.8% from 1.77 euro cents last year

Revenue rose 10% to €79.3 million, while the key industry metric of EPRA net asset value per share rose to 81.18 Euro cents, from 77.35 Euro cents at the end of fiscal 2020, the company said. Operating income for the period grew by 11% to €43.9m from €39.5m, while funds from operations rose by 7.4% to €29.1m from €27.1m."The company is well positioned for a busy and progressive second half of the financial year and is trading in line with the board's expectations," said CEO Andrew Coombs. He said that state support in Germany had limited the economic hit from Covid-19, leading to a return of confidence in the German real estate market. Occupier demand for occupational and flexible space remained strong, he said. He said the company could double its annual funds from operations to €100m over the next five years.