(Alliance News) - Globalworth Real Estate Investments Ltd on Tuesday said it swung to a EUR44 million loss in the first half of 2023 despite revenue increasing, but said it expects "gradual" improvement as market conditions stabilise.

Globalworth shares were down 5.4% at EUR2.46 in London on Tuesday.

The Central and Eastern Europe-focused real estate investor said its EPRA net reinstatement value fell 8.9% to EUR7.55 at June 30, from EUR8.29 on December 31. Globalworth attributed this to a valuation loss on its property portfolio during the six-month period, and to issuing a EUR14.3 million scrip dividend in April.

Globalworth said revenue increased 2.1% in the first half of 2023, to EUR119.1 million from EUR116.6 million the year before. However it reported a pretax loss of EUR44.3 million, compared with last year's profit of EUR45.7 million.

Globalworth swung to a fair value loss on investment property of EUR102.9 million, compared with a EUR7.0 million gain the year before. However, this was partially offset by finance income surging to EUR18.2 million from EUR1.2 million, largely thanks to a EUR15.8 million one-off gain from a EUR100 million bond buyback. Administrative expenses increased 20% to 7.8 million.

Globalworth also declared an interim dividend of 15 Euro cents per share, up from 14 cents the prior year.

The figures were in line with the preliminary interim results, published at the end of August.

Looking ahead, Chief Executive Officer Dennis Selinas claimed that "there are discernible signs of macroeconomic variables stabilising" despite "prevailing challenges" like inflation, and that "in the absence of other shocks, we expect a gradual return to a sustainable improvement of GDP growth and improving real estate market conditions."

Selinas maintained that Globalworth's overall performance "remained resilient" throughout the half year.

By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter

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