Net income of Union Homes Real Estate Investment Trust, a Lagos-based real estate fund manager, dipped in Q1 2019 on the reduction of interest income in the period.
Union Homes posted a net income of N80.13 million for the period compared to N96.37 for the first quarter of 2018 where it recorded an upsurge of 68.61 per cent in bottom-line.
The slower momentum in 2019 was on account of the fund’s interest income falling to N40.45 million, 36.55 per cent lower than Q1 2018 figures. Interest income was the second largest revenue segment for Union Homes in the quarter, contributing 33 per cent to the business compared to 44 per cent in the same quarter of 2018.
Income from rentals of property, its largest segment, declined in the period-albeit marginally-at 0.43 per cent to N81.55 million in the review period. Union Homes grew its sundry income by 220 per cent to N960,000 in Q1 2019.
Distribution, Administration and other expenses fell in the period by 13.68 per cent to N42.83 million compared to N49.62 million.
Despite the decline in expenses, Union Homes was unable to present a stellar performance for its first quarter like it did the year before as earnings per share fell by 17.95 per cent in the review period due to the impact of lower net income.
Total Asset of Union Homes rose quarter on quarter in March 2019 to N11.06 billion from N10.97 billion in December of 2018.
The increase was driven by an improvement in Investment properties from N9.12 billion in December 2018 to N9.24 billion in March 2019. Financial Assets also grew to N1 billion in the recently concluded quarter from N970.95 million noted in December of 2018 while trade receivables and other assets improved by about 2 percent in the same period.
On the other hand, total current liabilities dropped to N1.24 billion from N1.18 billion over the review period while Net Asset or Unitholders’ Equity saw an uptick of 0.33 per cent to N9.82 billion as against N9.79 billion.
Union Homes Real Estate Investment Trust is a close-ended Fund registered by the Securities and Exchange Commission under the investment & Securities Act 2007 and primarily involved in acquiring investment properties which are held for capital appreciation.
The fund’s activities are managed by SFS Capital Nigeria Limited. Shares of Union Home have remained N3.02 since June of 2016.
SEGUN ADAMS
