Grainger raises dividend again despite slipping into loss

Major residential landlord Grainger has raised its dividend despite slipping into a loss in a set of half-year results in which rental income rallied, and the value of its underlying properties stayed stable.

The landlord and builder of build-to-rent homes saw an 11 per cent growth in its net rental income from £48m to £53.2m.

Meanwhile the firm’s total rental growth in the half year to 31 March was eight per cent, up from 6.8 per cent in the six months prior.

This strong like-for-like rental growth and the expansion of its successful pipeline delivery both led to the firm rewarding shareholders with an uptick in its dividend for the 17th time in a row.

The dividend per share at Granger, which has an operational residential portfolio worth £3.4bn, is now 2.54p, up 11 per cent from 2.28p the previous half-year.

However, the multiple dwellings relief changes in the recent budget pushed the landlord and housebuilder into the red, operating at £31m loss. It had a profit before tax of £5.7m in the last half of reporting.

Helen Gordon, Grainger’s Chief Executive, said: “Grainger has delivered another strong operating performance over the past six months. Strong like-for-like rental growth and expansion from our successful pipeline delivery have driven further growth in net rental income and earnings and enable us to increase our dividend.

“Our portfolio occupancy remains high at 97.7 per cent with customer affordability healthy, customer satisfaction and retention high, and rent arrears low.”

Gordon also confirmed the company’s intention to become a real estate investment trust (REIT) in October next year, which, she said, would “enhance returns for shareholders further”.

Grainger owns approximately 11,000 homes across the UK and has 5,000 more in its pipeline of build-to-rent homes.

Last year, it signed a landmark deal with Network Rail to build 2,000 homes across six cities on brownfield sites adjacent to railway infrastructure.