Grainger PLC said on Thursday its first half earnings have been ‘strong’ with profit more than doubled.

For the six months ended March 31, the Newcastle, England-based residential property developer’s pretax profit more than doubled to £98.8 million from £44.5 million during the same period in 2021.

Chief Executive Helen Gordon: ‘We have delivered a particularly strong performance for the first half of the year with adjusted earnings up 23%, largely driven by our acceleration of growth in net rental income of 23%.

‘We are delivering on our growth plans which will see us double in size in the coming years, providing exceptional earnings growth and attractive high single digit total returns to shareholders.’

Adjusted earnings rose to £46.3 million from £37.5 million in the previous year.

Total revenue increased 25% to £126.6 million from £101.3 million, with net rental income up 23% to £42.8 million from 34.7 million.

Grainger recorded like-for-like rental growth of 3.5% in the first half, and ended the half with 98% occupancy.

Its EPRA net tangible asset per share ended the half at 305 pence, rising from 297p at the same point the year earlier, with the loan-to-value of its property growing to 31.4% from 30.4%.

The company declared a 14% rise in dividend per share to 2.08p from 1.83p in the first half last year.

Grainger said it’s well-prepared for inflation and the cost of living rises.

Gordon added: ‘We are well prepared for the economic challenges facing the UK today of inflation and cost of living rises. With a resilient customer base, high quality energy efficient homes, fixed debt costs, fixed delivery costs across the majority of our secured pipeline and limited direct exposure to other inflationary pressures, we are confident in the outlook for our business.’

Grainger shares were down 0.7% at 279.00 pence each on Thursday afternoon in London.

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