Palace Capital PLC on Wednesday said Chief Financial Officer Matthew Simpson has agreed to step down in order to save cash, as it reported an impressive narrowing in its half-year loss.

Simpson has been with the London-based investor in commercial real estate for the past eight years. For the past two, he has been CFO and prior to that was the company’s financial controller.

Palace Capital explained that its financial circumstances, including cancellation of bank facilities and reduced portfolio size, mean that the CFO role is significantly reduced. Based on this, the company ‘no longer requires the level of expertise and skillset’ that Simpson has.

It added that with Simpson leaving it makes ‘further progress in the delivery of its strategy to focus on maximising cash returns to shareholders’.

Going forward, the financial operations of Palace Capital will be managed by its financial controller and financial planning analyst with operational oversight by Executive Chair Steven Owen.

After a short handover, Simpson will leave Palace Capital at the end of this month.

Simpson said: ‘After eight years, the last two years of which were as CFO, the timing is now right for me to explore new opportunities and pursue a fresh challenge. I leave Palace Capital in a robust financial position, having deleveraged the balance sheet with debt and LTV significantly reduced and the company is well placed to deliver on its strategy of maximising cash returns to shareholders.

Palace Capital also on Wednesday reported half-year results. IFRS pretax loss narrowed dramatically to £189,000 in the six months that ended September 30 from £12.4 million a year before, despite revenue declining by 16% to £12.1 million from £14.3 million.

This was because loss on revaluation of investment properties was £5.6 million, narrowed from £10.8 million.

‘We continue to make good progress in achieving disposals at values ahead of book enabling us to further reduce debt and leverage as we deliver on our strategy of maximising cash returns to shareholders,’ Owen said.

Palace Capital paid 7.5 pence in dividends during the half year, up 7.1% from 7.0p a year before. It also has been making share buybacks.

Debt on September 30 was £20.2 million, reduced from £64.2 million on March 31. This has been cut further since, to £7.7 million.

Shares in Palace Capital were up 0.2% to 234.50 pence each in London on Thursday morning. They had risen by 8.9% on Wednesday.

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