(Alliance News) - Picton Property Income Ltd on Tuesday reported that its loss narrowed in the first half of its financial year, amid merger talks.

Last week, Picton confirmed, alongside UK Commercial Property REIT Ltd that they were discussing a potential merger. However, both companies noted that there can be no certainty of an offer being made.

On Tuesday, the UK commercial property-focused real estate investment trust posted its interim results, but left merger talks out of the picture.

In the six months ended September 30, Picton's pretax loss narrowed to GBP1.4 million from GBP10.4 million.

Net property income rose to GBP18.2 million from GBP18.1 million a year earlier.

Picton's EPRA earnings totalled GBP10.0 million down from GBP10.7 million. EPRA earnings per share fell to 1.8 pence from 2.0p.

Picton Property kept its dividend unchanged at 1.75p.

Chief Executive Michael Morris said: "Our exposure to the better performing industrial sector has supported the overall portfolio valuation while we've made excellent progress with our plans to find alternative uses for some of our office assets. We're also continuing to progress a number of asset management initiatives aimed at capturing the reversionary potential in the portfolio."

Shares in Picton Property were up 1.5% to 65.74p each in London on Tuesday morning.

By Sophie Rose, Alliance News senior reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.