Shaftesbury Capital Reports First-Half Profit, Expects Further Growth

Shaftesbury Capital, the newly merged company of Shaftesbury and Capital & Counties Properties, has announced a pretax profit of £799.1 million ($1.02 billion) for the first half of the year. This marks a significant turnaround from a loss of £5.9 million during the same period last year. The profit was driven by a gain of £803.7 million attributed to a "bargain purchase" accounting term, which reflects Shaftesbury's acquisition by Capital at a discounted price relative to its assets.

Operating profit also showed strong improvement, rising from a loss of £3.1 million to £40.8 million. Revenue saw a substantial increase from £35.9 million to £82.4 million.

The company's net tangible assets, an important industry metric, improved to 194 pence per share, up from a pro forma 193 pence in December.

To reward shareholders, the board declared an interim dividend of 1.5 pence per share.

Shaftesbury Capital highlighted positive business conditions in its West End locations, with footfall and customer sales now surpassing pre-pandemic levels by 15% compared to 2019.

Chief Executive Ian Hawksworth expressed confidence in the company's future growth prospects, stating, "We are already seeing the benefits of the combined platform and with our strong balance sheet, we look forward with confidence on delivering further growth and returns in the years ahead."

At 0724 GMT, shares were up by 0.2 pence, or 0.2%, trading at 116.8 pence.