EMPIRIC STUDENT PROPERTY PLC (Alliance News) - Empiric Student Property PLC on Thursday boosted its outlook, after reporting higher revenue in the first half of 2023.
In the six months ended June 30, the London-based student accommodation operator reported that revenue rose by 16% to GBP41.3 million from GBP35.6 million a year earlier.
Pretax profit, however, plummeted to GBP24.6 million from GBP70.3 million, owing to a lower gain on the fair value of investment property. Empiric booked a gain in fair value of investment property in the recent half of GBP10.3 million, down from a GBP58.6 million gain a year before.
Total portfolio value as of June 30 was GBP1.06 billion, down from GBP1.08 billion on December 31, though Empiric noted this was up 1.0% on a like-for-like basis.
EPRA net tangible assets per share rose 1.6% to 117.3p at the end of June from 115.4p at the end of December, with EPRA earnings rising 19% year-on-year to GBP14.1 million.
This helped to underpin a 30% increase in its interim dividend, Empiric said, proposing a 1.625p payout for the period, up 30% year-on-year from 1.250p.
Looking ahead, the company said that it is targeting a minimum dividend for 2023 of 3.25p per share, up from 2.75p in 2022.
Empiric also upped its guidance for like-for-like revenue growth. It now expects it to be about 9% annually for the 2023-24 academic year, up from previous guidance of 7%. It said its properties so far have 98% revenue occupancy for the coming academic year, tracking ahead of last year.
"Having effectively filled our rooms for the forthcoming academic year and delivered strong like-for-like rental growth, we remain confident in the outlook for the business and the wider purpose-built student accommodation sector throughout the remainder of 2023 and beyond," Empiric said.
Shares in Empiric were up 5.4% to 90.26 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
By Sophie Rose, Alliance News reporter
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