PRS REIT’s pretax profit surged to 14.6 times its previously reported level in the six months ended 31 December 2018.
The REIT reported pretax profit of £7.5m in the period, compared to £500,000 the previous year.
Rental income increased by a factor of 3.8 to £2.3m, net assets doubled from £245.5m to £477.2m, and EPRA NAV fell by 1.9% to 96.3p per share.
PRS REIT achieved its initial target of committing £900m in gross funds.
The half year closed with around 3,575 homes either built or under construction. This has since risen to 3,951, but chairman Steve Smith predicted construction delays.
Smith said: “Looking over the remainder of the financial year, we anticipate short-term headwinds that are likely to cause some delays to current construction schedules.
“Outside these delays, the model is working well, with delivery and operational costs in line with expectations, continuing high demand for our homes, and good visibility on the deployment of the remaining tranches of our gross capital.
“Housing for the family rental market remains critically undersupplied and the opportunity for the company to establish itself as a major provider of high-quality, professionally managed houses in the UK remains substantial.”
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