Urban Exposure, the troubled property financier in the process of bring wound down, returned to profit last year, posting a £200,000 pre-tax profit for 2019 compared with a £2m loss a year earlier.
The company saw revenue jump 185% to £11.1m. However, operating costs ballooned by 106% to £10.3m. Basic earnings per share were 0.09p.
The business also reported writedowns totalling £500,000. These included a cost of £400,000 to settle legal costs and £300,000 of fees stemming from its postponed retail bond. These costs were offset by the recovery of £200,000 legal and professional fees from the setting up of its joint venture with KKR.
During 2019 Urban Exposure had new committed loans totalling £498m, but due to what it called “specific” borrower performance following the year end, its new committed loans stand at £191m.
Urban Exposure is proposing to enter voluntary solvent liquidation once its loan book has matured or been sold.
The company has said it anticipates an orderly wind down of the business could produce net returns for shareholders of between 70p and 83p per share.
It has estimated that 80% of proceeds should be returned to shareholders within seven to 15 months.
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