Unite Group pre-tax profit increases in first half

28th Aug 2014 16:37

Unite Group, a UK developer and manager of student accommodation, reported first half pre-tax profit of £44.6m, a £7.1m increase year-on-year.Revenue rose from £47.6m to £57.9m, while EPRA earnings were up 34% to £20.4m."Our primary financial objective remains to continue to grow recurring earnings and cashflow sustainably," said group's chief executive Mark Allan. "Given the positive rental growth outlook, a growing development pipeline and USAF's recent acquisition of a high quality regional portfolio, we retain strong momentum and are now targeting a 4.5% EPS yield on NAV for 2014, a year ahead of our previous plans."The company said it was on track to achieve like-for-like rental growth of at least 3% for the full year and it announced it had hiked its interim dividend by 37.5% to 2.2p a share. Allan explained the group would focus on becoming the most trusted brand in the sector, as well as maintaining a high quality portfolio and having a sound capital structure.United remained positive about the future and said it has secured two further development projects and four regional developments projects which are expected to total 3,300 bed spaces between them.Reservations for the 2014/15 academic year were at 92%, a 2% increase from the same period 12 months ago. As a result of the government's decision to increase funded places for 2014/15 and remove the cap on 2015/16 places Unite said it expects the number of students to increase, which would lead to a higher demand for accommodations.Unite shares were down 1.36% to 434.20p at 16:13 on Thursday.DC