FINANCE: Daejan Holdings has posted a leap in underlying net profit before tax for the half-year to 30 September to £27.3m from £20.4m for the same period in 2013.
Profit before tax stood at £134.5m, from £76.5m the year before. This included a net valuation gain on investment properties of £107.9m, and fair value losses on financial instruments of £0.6m.
Gross rental income increased by 21.6%, or £10.6m, while equity shareholders’ funds per share rose from £64.5 to £75.
Over the period a contested rent review on the Strand Palace Hotel, W2, led to a one-off rental income benefit of £7.9m.
Daejan Investments, as the landlord under an underlease on the property, sued the hotel for rent arrears over the summer.
Daejan also let the entirety of the 120,000 sq ft Africa House, WC2, to law firm Mischon de Reya.
The firm said in a trading update this morning that the US business continued to grow and the UK outlook improved, though growth in the latter was confined largely to London.
Daejan added that the uncertainty surrounding next year’s general election and the UK’s future relationship with the EU made the immediate future “hard to predict”.
