Eppley Caribbean Property Fund reports profitability and announces continuation of share buy-back policy
EPPLEY Caribbean Property Fund Limited SCC — Value Fund (ECPF) has recorded another year of record profitability for its shareholders.
For the year ended September 2022 ECPF’s net profit grew 65 per cent from the previous year to BD$9.5 million. This follows the recent announcement of the increase in the dividend payment frequency.
In commenting about the performance Nicholas Scott, chairman of ECPF, said, “We are proud of the continued performance of the fund which illustrates our stability, resilience and capacity for growth. We remain focused on expanding our portfolio of high-quality commercial real estate assets throughout the region. The strength of the fund’s operations and quality of the underlying assets continue to support distributions to shareholders through dividends and share buy-backs.”
Justin Nam, general manager of Eppley Limited and ECPF’s fund manager, expressed that “the increased profitability validates our strategy of diversifying into industrial and BPO assets. We remain well positioned for growth with a conservative balance sheet as real assets have performed well over varying inflationary cycles”.
Net operating income (NOI) attributable to shareholders, a measure of the fund’s share of rental income less its operating expenses, also grew by 50 per cent to BD$5.8 million for the year ended September 30, 2022.
Funds from operations (FFO) attributable to shareholders — the measure of the fund’s core operating profitability based on rental income less its expenses and cost of financing — grew by 34 per cent to BD$4.1 million for the year ended September 30, 2022.
Denise Gallimore, vice-president of real estate and infrastructure at Eppley, noted that “the fund owns a portfolio of marquee assets that are well recognised in their location, and it is our objective to partner with strong, regional, blue-chip entities at all of our properties. We are pleased to note that Jamaica’s newest Starbucks Coffee store will begin operating at the Mall Plaza on November 23, 2022. We believe this will transform the shopping experience at the Mall Plaza and contribute to growth of the fund.”
ECPF owns 17 premium commercial buildings comprising over 874,000 square feet throughout the English-speaking Caribbean, and is listed on the Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago stock exchanges.
