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Build-to-rent and student accommodation developer Watkin Jones posted a 3.3% decline in first-half profit as the pandemic weighed on sales.
Pre-tax profit for the six months through March fell to £25.8 million, down from £26.7 million year-on-year, as revenue slipped 3.9% to £178.4 million.
Watkin Jones declared an interim dividend of 2.6p, having paid no interim dividend in the previous corresponding period.
'As we begin to emerge from the pandemic, we are seeing increasing investor confidence in our market sectors,' chief executive Richard Simpson said.
'We've maintained the momentum from the second half of last year and made further good progress in securing new forward sales, adding to our development pipeline and keeping all our construction activities on track.'
'All parts of the business have continued to perform well, and whilst our profit for the first half of the year was slightly below last year, this was because the first half last year was largely before the onset of the disruption caused by the pandemic.'
'The fundamentals supporting the markets for high quality build-to-rent and student accommodation assets remain strong, driving growing institutional demand, and combined with the continued progress we have made in the first half of the year, gives us confidence in our future trading.'