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Empiric Student Property PLC on Thursday celebrated high occupancy and rental growth amid solid demand for student accommodation. The London-based owner and operator of studio-led student accommodation said pretax profit edged up 0.8% to £24.8 million in the first half of 2024 from £24.6 million a year prior. Revenue grew 2.7% to £42.4 million from £41.3 million. Administrative expenses increased 9.2% to £7.1 million from £6.5 million, while finance costs increased 13% to £10.2 million from £9.0 million. Empiric Student declared a quarterly dividend of 0.88p per share, up 7.7% from 0.81p a year prior. This brings the half-year payout to 1.75p, up 7.7% from 1.63p. Empiric Student targets a minimum total payout of 3.5p for 2024, the same as it paid for 2023. The company highlighted that revenue occupancy for academic year 2024-25 underpins confidence that its portfolio ‘will again be effectively full for a third consecutive year.’ Looking ahead, Chief Executive Officer Duncan Garrood said: ‘We continue to experience strong demand for our high-quality, well-located accommodation, with the booking cycle for the forthcoming 2024/25 academic year providing confidence in the delivery of strong occupancy and rental growth that surpasses inflation. Operationally, the business continues to perform very well with our net promoter score and customer satisfaction rate advancing year-on-year, underpinning improved re-booker rates, which are on track to be our best ever.’ Empiric Student shares fell 1.2% to 96.81 pence each on Thursday morning in London. Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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