Tritax Big Box REIT has warned Coronavirus may impact earnings as it posted a fall in net asset value (NAV) for the year to the end of December.
NAV for the year dipped 1.2% to 151.06p, while earnings per share fell from 6.88p in 2018 to 6.64p.
On the Covid-19 outbreak Sir Richard Jewson, chairman of Tritax, said: “Early positivity in the occupational and investment markets may be tempered by Coronavirus (COVID-19), which is already impacting global growth. It is impossible to know the extent to which the virus will develop, but our investment portfolio is occupied by a diversified, high-quality customer base, let on long leases. We continue to monitor the situation.”
He added: “With renewed global economic uncertainty, we think it is more important than ever to stress the quality and longevity of our income stream together with embedded income growth. We remain confident in our ability to continue to deliver secure and growing dividends to Shareholders as part of an attractive total return over the medium term. As such we have increased our dividend target by 2.2% to 7.00p per share for 2020.”
The group also revealed operating profit was up 7.7% for 2019, to £122.5m, while annual rent roll increase 3.4% TO £166.6m. Investors will also benefit from a 2.2% rise in the annual dividend to 6.85p per share.
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