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Capital & Regional PLC on Tuesday described its full-year performance as ‘resilient’ after trimming its loss and concluding the restructuring effort that stabilised the group.
The London-based real estate investment trust focused on community shopping centres said its pretax loss narrowed to £23.3 million in 2021 from £204.1 million in 2020.
Revenue fell to £70.0 million from £72.7 million in the prior year, with adjusted earnings per share dropping by around one-third to 6.8 pence from 10.2 pence.
For the year, net asset value per share declined by 32% to 102 pence from 150 pence, reflecting the first-half valuation decline and the equity raise in November.
To further mitigate debt levels, Capital & Regional skipped the final dividend.
Occupancy rate stood at 93% as at December 30, from 92% in the prior year, while rent collection was robust at 93%, including deferrals. At 2020 financial year end, correction was at 80%.
Rent collection for the first quarter of 2022, including monthly invoices for January and February 2022, is running at 95%.
‘The completion of our refocus, restructure and recapitalisation at the end of 2021 brought some hard-fought stability to our business following a challenging period where we, and the wider retail industry, faced the combined impact of the pandemic and the restrictions that came with it, as well as the associated acceleration of structural changes impacting physical retailing,’ said Chief Executive Lawrence Hutchings.
Chair David Hunter said the company's performance was ‘resilient’ despite ‘unprecedented challenges’.
Under the restructuring plan, Capital & Regional acquired £100 million of debt outstanding with Royal Bank of Scotland PLC for a principal amount of £81 million, representing a discount of £19 million.
It raised £30 million through equity offer and existing cash resources. As at December 30, the group had total cash on balance sheet of £58.5 million.
‘It remains our intention to continue as a REIT and as such resume dividends, whilst being prudent and conscious of our balance sheet and the capital needs of our assets and business,’ Hutchings said.
Shares in Capital & Regional were down 2.1% at 55.20 pence on Tuesday in London, while its Johannesburg shares lost 3.5% to R 11.57.
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