Profit jump for property developer Segro as dividend raised
Property developer Segro has posted surging profit as it hikes its final dividend.
In results for the year ended 31 December 2021, the London-based firm reported pre-tax profit of £356m.
This was a leap of 20 per cent compared with the prior year, when 2020 profit stood at £296m
The company raised its final dividend 11 per cent to 16.9 pence. Its 2021 full year dividend was hiked 10 per cent to 24.3 pence, compared to 22.1 pence in 2020.
It reported strong occupier demand, with a generation of £95m new headline commitments during the period.
In its development pipeline, Segreo said there were 1.1m sq m of projects under construction or in advanced pre-let discussions. These projects equated to £82m of potential rent, of which 70 per cent had been pre-let.
David Sleath, chief executive of the company said: “2021 was a highly successful year for SEGRO as reflected in our full year results which include a £4.1bn portfolio valuation uplift and record levels of rental growth.
“Investor and occupier supply-demand dynamics in the industrial and logistics sector remain very favourable, led by the long-term trends of digitalisation, supply chain resilience and an increasing focus on sustainability.”
Inflationary pressures “remain” when looking forward to the current year, the company said.
However, it said it expected “to be able to offset these in our existing portfolio by capturing the significant reversion in lease reviews and renewals, whilst benefiting from indexation provisions in our remaining leases which represent approximately 40 per cent of our rent roll.”