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Picton Property Income Ltd on Thursday said it swung to profit during its most recent financial year, boosted by a swing to gains on investments. The Guernsey-based property investment company said it swung to pretax profit of £37.3 million in the year that ended March 31, from a loss of £4.8 million the year before. This was driven largely by a swing to £14.5 million in profit on investments, against a £26.5 million loss a year prior. Property revenue declined 1.3% to £54.0 million from £54.7 million, while property expenses were reduced by 3.0% to £16.3 million from £16.8 million. ‘We have made further progress repositioning the portfolio, improved occupancy to 94% and reduced office exposure by a fifth, with £51 million of disposals ahead of March 2024 values. Alongside share buybacks, we have used these proceeds to repay debt, reduce financing costs and invest to improve our assets,’ said Chief Executive Officer Michael Morris. ‘Asset management initiatives have created value irrespective of wider market conditions. This is demonstrated by our continued property level outperformance against the MSCI UK Quarterly Index this year, with our diversified approach enabling a track record of upper quartile property outperformance since launch in 2005.’ Picton delivered a total return of 8.1% for the year, compared to a negative 0.9% return in financial 2024. Net assets at March 31 totalled £533.4 million, up 1.7% on-year from £524.5 million. The firm declared a total dividend of 3.7 pence per share, 5.7% higher than 3.5p a year prior. EPRA earnings per share increased 5.0% to 4.2p from 4.0p. CEO Morris continued: ‘Looking forwards we will seek to grow earnings through further disposals of low yielding assets and accretive redeployment of capital. Our significant reversionary potential in the portfolio, combined with our long-term fixed rate borrowings, puts us in a strong position to deliver income and value growth.’ Shares in Picton Property Income were flat at 72.70 pence each in London on Thursday morning. The stock has risen 6.4% over the past year. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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