Edinburgh-based Premier Property Group (PPG) has reported a “profitable year despite a difficult market”.
The property arm of Murray International Holdings saw pretax profits slashed by more than half to £5.5m in the year to the end of January 2008 – compared with £12.2m the previous year.
Net assets increased from £61.8m to £63.5m.
Financial statements, soon to be filed at Companies House, reveal that the sale of two fully-let office investments in London’s West End, a recently completed office development at Solent Business Park, Southampton, and a Glasgow development site significantly contributed to the company’s profit.
PPG has several schemes in the pipeline, including a 180,000 sq ft office scheme at 141 Bothwell Street, Glasgow due for completion at the end of 2008.
Corporate law firm McGrigors and HSBC have signed up as tenants while two further floors have recently been let, the new tenants to shortly be announced.
A refurbishment of 60 Charlotte Street, the former Channel 4 headquarters in London’s West End, has just been completed, with a ground floor restaurant unit pre-let to Goucho Grill.
Managing director Ian Tudhope, said: “We sold well in the first half of the year, bringing well-let properties to the market while conditions were still favourable.
“From August onwards, we could not buck a declining market and transactional activity thinned out. All in all, we are satisfied with our results. The current year is proving much more challenging but we have experienced difficult times in the past and are well equipped to weather the economic downturn.
“Several rays of light remain on the development front, including a significant and profitable land sale in Yorkshire. In addition, we have a solid balance sheet, supportive funders and the benefits of being part of the Murray Group.”
Chairman Sir David Murray, said: “PPG has a good team and a strong asset base, well located and spread over several types of property.
“I am confident in PPG’s ability to deal with the challenges currently confronting the whole property sector. The Murray Group is geared to the longer term and property is no exception.”
