Segro ended the week on a high after its annual profit rose despite a slump in property valuations.
The FTSE 100 commercial property group, which owns warehouses used by businesses, distributors and supermarkets, saw its profit rise 8.4 per cent to £386m for 2022. Its rental income shot up nearly 20 per cent to £522m following record annual rent growth.
There was also a strong demand for space as it signed a lease with a multi-storey data centre development in Slough.
Segro boss David Sleath said: ‘Our modern, well-located and highly sustainable warehouses continue to be in high demand from a diverse range of occupiers, underpinned by long-term structural drivers.’
However, the market turmoil caused by the disastrous mini-Budget last September took a toll on the real estate sector.
On the map: Segro saw its profit rise 8.4 per cent to £386m for 2022
Segro saw its net asset value per share fall 15 per cent to 966p.
This was driven by an 11 per cent slump in the value of its portfolio as property yields increased following rising interest rates. But Segro hopes investment will pick up. It also hiked its dividend by 8.4 per cent to 26.3p for 2022. Analysts at Liberum said Segro’s ‘modern portfolio focused on major cities’ means it is well placed to benefit from strong rental growth as demand for warehouse space outstrips supply. Shares rose 3.6 per cent, or 30p, to 866.2p.
The FTSE 100 fell 0.1 per cent, or 8.17 points, to 8004.36 and the FTSE 250 was down 0.5 per cent, or 92.52 points, at 20088.93.
Danni Hewson, financial analyst at AJ Bell, said: ‘It’s been an odd sort of week with a plethora of mixed economic data to chew over and so many ways for investors to interpret that data. We are still in the era where so much good news is viewed as bad news and vice versa.’
Oil prices slumped nearly 3 per cent amid fears further US interest rate hikes could weigh on demand.
BP fell 1.4 per cent, or 7.7p, to 559.9p and Shell slipped 1.8 per cent, or 46.5p, to 2541p.
Asset manager Legal & General sued Glencore last week over investor losses linked to the mining giant’s guilty plea to multiple bribery offences in November.
Investors seemed unnerved by the news as Glencore inched up 0.5 per cent, or 2.3p, to 509.7p and L&G rose 0.2 per cent, or 0.5p, to 260p.
Activist investor Nelson Peltz sold more than £70m worth of Unilever stock through his New York-based investment fund Trian Partners. The 80-year-old billionaire offloaded 1,661,153 shares in the consumer goods group behind Dove, Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s at an average price of £42.60.
Shares in Unilever rose 0.1 per cent, or 4.5p, to 4235.5p.
Superdry’s boss has snapped up another chunk of shares only two weeks after he insisted he had no desire to take the fashion firm private ‘at the moment’. Julian Dunkerton, who co-founded Superdry in 2003, bought 340,786 shares for nearly 112p. Shares rose 1.7 per cent, or 2p, to 117.4p.
Pod Point remained upbeat over the future growth of the UK electric vehicle market after it shipped and installed more charging points compared with the previous 12 months.
The group, which develops charging bays for the likes of Tesco (up 0.3 per cent, or 0.8p, to 250.9p), Lidl and Center Parcs, saw its revenue soar 16pc to £71.4m in 2022.
But its losses widened 39 per cent to £19.9m in its first full year as a listed company.
Shares, which floated at 225p in November 2021, gained 3.6 per cent, or 2.18p, to 63p.
Meanwhile, sofa and flooring seller ScS has returned £7m to shareholders after it completed its £3.1m share buyback programme. Shares lifted 0.9 per cent, or 2p, to 219p.
