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Workspace Group PLC on Thursday said it swung to an annual loss, due to a drop in property valuation. The London-based flexible workspace provider said it swung to a pretax loss of £37.5 million in the financial year that ended March 31 from a profit of £124.0 million the year before. This was attributed to a reduction in property valuation of 3.5% in the second half of the year. Workspace said its property was valued at £2.74 billion on March 31, up from £2.40 billion a year before; however, the company said the valuation was down 3.2% on an underlying basis when excluding capital expenditure and disposals and including McKay at acquisition cost. Workspace bought UK office property investor McKay Securities for £272 million back in May last year. Workspace said revenue was up 31% to £174.2 million in financial 2023 from £132.9 million in financial 2022, as net rental income multiplied to £116.6 million from £86.7 million the year before. Workspace recommended a final dividend of 17.4 pence per share, up 20% from 14.5p a year before, bringing the total dividend for financial 2023 to 25.8p from 21.5p. Looking ahead, Workspace said rental income for the new financial year will be underpinned by the 7.1% growth in like-for-like rent seen in financial 2023, as well as the letting up of recently completed projects and of the refurbished and vacant space in the McKay portfolio. Workspace said it continues to see ‘good demand’ and expects further pricing growth. Shares in Workspace were up 3.8% at 496.80 pence each in London on Thursday morning. Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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