Regional REIT Ltd on Tuesday reported on a ‘challenging’ first half as it swung to a loss and recorded a drop in rental and property income, while also lowering its interim dividend by double-digits.

Shares in Regional REIT fell by 12% at 38.38 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.

In the six months ended June 30, the London-based real estate investment trust swung to a pretax loss of £12.1 million from a £28.3 million profit a year prior.

This is partly reflected by a loss in the fair value of investment properties of £29.5 million, the loss on the disposal of investment properties of £400,000 and the change in the value of the right-of-use asset of £100,000.

Rental and property income fell by 1.8% to £44.4 million from £45.2 million the year before due to a 3.1% decrease in rent roll to £69.8 million from £72.0 million the year before.

Regional REIT lowered its interim dividend by 14% to 2.85p per share from 3.30p per share in the first half of 2022, citing ‘challenging macroeconomic conditions’. Nevertheless, the investment trust said the dividend ‘continues to be aligned with earnings going forward’.

Looking ahead, Regional REIT said it ‘remains vigilant’ to the continued short-term macroeconomic uncertainty, but noted it continued to perform well operationally and continues to see ‘significant opportunities for value creation’.

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