First Property's profits dip after major client loss

6th Jun 2019 12:55

(Sharecast News) - First Property Group on Thursday reported a double-digit reduction in both annual profits and revenue after the departure of a major client.The property fund manager and investor achieved a statutory profit before tax of £8.3m for the year ended 31 March, a drop of 10% compared to the year before, as revenue dropped by 20% to £20.4m.The AIM traded company said said its revenue suffered due to the loss of €2.9m-worth of income that was being earned from the group's investment in CH8 until Citigroup left a 10,000 m2 vacancy after moving out of the property in February 2018.Despite the drop in revenues and profits, the company declared a final dividend of 1.22p a share, up 3.4% from the year prior, bringing the total dividend up by 3.8% to 1.66p.Ben Habib, chief executive of First Property Group, said: "The year just ended was another one of substantial operational and financial progress. The growth of our fund management division continued apace with third party assets under management increasing by some 35% to £611m."Meanwhile, total assets under management increased by 12.8% to £706m, with Polish assets now comprising 39% of First Property's portfolio up from 36% last year."Both our divisions are trading well. The markets in which we operate are generally buoyant and offering interesting investment opportunities on which we expect to continue to capitalise," said Habib.First Property Group's shares were down 2.94% at 49.50p at 1217 BST.