Real estate investment trust A&J Mucklow saw its profits take a nose dive over the year, but feeling confident it still increased the dividend by 3%.

Pre-tax profit was significantly down from £35.9m to £12.9m, while earnings per share dropped from 60.91p to 22.43p.

Revenues stood at £18.3m, down from £19.1m the previous year.

The board increased the dividend from 9.94p to 10.24p.

The company said: "Until there are more positive signs of a sustained recovery in the UK economy, the occupier market is likely to remain cautious and industrial space take-up will continue to be sluggish.

"We are currently forecasting approximately 4% of our space being returned over the next 12 months, however, we remain confident that we will be able to continue to maintain a high occupancy rate.

"Our long term prospects are looking good. When the market does improve, there will be a shortage of quality industrial space in the Midlands, as very little has been developed over the last 10 years and rental values have remained relatively low, compared with other regions."

The group emphasised that economic uncertainty is likely to continue for some time, saying, "we are not expecting much change in either the occupier or investment markets over the next 12 months.

It continued: "We remain optimistic about our future prospects. We have assembled a quality portfolio of modern properties, with excellent potential for rental and capital growth when the market conditions improve.

"Despite the current challenges the Group is well positioned to continue to take advantage of its available financial facilities and low gearing."

The share price was down 1.45% to 305.25p at 15:43.

NR

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