Stride Property's first-half profit slipped 7 per cent as the property management firm bore the cost of setting up a new industrial property fund and faced a bigger tax bill than the year earlier.
Net profit fell to $37.4 million in the six months ended September 30 from $40.2 million a year earlier. That included a $1.4 million one-off project cost setting up the Industre Property fund with a group of international institutional investors advised by JP Morgan Asset Management. Stride's tax bill was also higher at $7.4 million compared to $3.8 million, reflecting depreciation recovered on a property sale and a year-earlier tax benefit from breaking an interest rate swap.
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Distributable profit declined 1.8 per cent to $19.3 million as the increased tax bill offset increased rental and management fee income, which were up 1.5 per cent at $28.4 million and 25.8 per cent at $9.2 million respectively.
The board declared a second-quarter dividend of about 2.48 cents per share, payable on Dec. 10 with a Dec. 3 record date.