- Primary Health Properties PLC on Wednesday reported a jump in profit for 2021 and looked to another year of dividend growth.

IFRS net tangible assets per share stood at 112.5 pence at the end of 2021, up 4.7% on 107.5p a year ago. However, the London-based healthcare facilities investor’s total adjusted NTA return was 8.9% for 2021, 120 basis points below 2020’s 10% return.

Net rental income for the year was £136.7 million, up 4.2% on £131.2 million registered in 2020. Pretax profit increased 26% to £141.6 million from £112.4 million, boosted by a £110.2 million revaluation gain on its property portfolio, more than double the £51.3 million gain posted the year before.

‘2021 has been another strong year of progress for PHP, having successfully completed the internalisation of our management structure and refinanced a number of legacy loan facilities which have delivered substantial annual cost savings. In addition, we have a strong targeted pipeline and continue to see good organic rental growth from rent reviews and asset management projects with record levels of activity during the year,’ said Chief Executive Harry Hyman.

Primary Health’s dividend for 2021 totalled 6.2p, up 5.1% from 5.9p in 2020. Further, it declared a first quarter dividend of 1.625p for 2022, equivalent to 6.5p on an annualised basis to mark a 4.8% increase over the 2021 dividend.

‘Having successfully delivered 25 years of secure and reliable growth for our shareholders, we have firmly established ourselves as a sector leader and the board looks forward to delivering further earnings and dividend growth in 2022 and remains confident in PHP’s future outlook,’ said Hyman.

Shares in Primary Health were up 1.7% at 135.70p in London on Wednesday.

‘With 90% of rents backed directly or indirectly by government bodies, with little exposure to the economic cycle or fluctuations in occupancy, predictability is a hallmark of PHP. This has enabled consistent dividend growth, now in its 26th year,’ commented Martyn King of research house Edison.

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