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First Property weathers the storm
Ben Habib, boss of AIM-quoted First Property
Poland-focused First Property Group says it has come through a testing year profitable and ‘in very good’ shape’.
The AIM-quoted property fund manager, which has 90 per cent of its assets in Poland, says the value of its portfolio under management rose 1 per cent between December and March, following a 12 per cent rise in net assets to £14.4 million in the six months to September. Directors say pre-tax profits for the year to March should come out in line with market expectations, implying a fall of around £1.1 million to some £2.7 million, and chief executive officer Ben Habib argues First Property, which made nearly £6.3 million pre-tax in 2007-08, is ‘set to grow the value of our assets, both as result of new purchases and the recovery in asset values’.
He says the company’s core business remained ’broadly stable throughout what continued to be a difficult period’, helped by the success of the Polish economy, uniquely among European Union member states, in avoiding recession last year. Turning to the UK, in February its principal subsidiary First Property Asset Management secured a mandate from UK pension clients of investment consultant Stamford Associates to establish a closed-end fund to invest in UK commercial property with £106 million of committed backing and £1 million co-investment by First Property Group itself.
The company says it has so far bought two properties worth £10 million for this fund and has three more under offer, taking the total to £16.5 million. First Property suggests this and similar deals, together with an expected recovery in Polish asset values, should see management fee income beginning to grow again in the coming year.
Shares in First Property have fluctuated between 18.38p and 13.25p over the past 12 months and now stand at 17.5p, valuing the company at £19.2 million. That is about 8.1 times what the City expects the company to earn in 2010-11 and leaves scope for improvement.
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