Civitas Social Housing’s net asset value (NAV) has nudged up slightly in the quarter to 30 September 2021.
The group reported an IFRS NAV of 108.49p (up from 108.42p on 30 June 2021). New investments have been limited to just one in the quarter, mainly due to an attack on the company by an activist short seller. Since its share price dropped significantly in August, the group has been buying back shares at a considerable discount to NAV (accretive for current shareholders).
During the quarter the company purchased 2,250,000 shares into treasury at an average price of 92.13p. The impact of the share repurchases at 30 September 2021 has been to enhance IFRS NAV per share by 0.06p.
A quarterly dividend of 1.3875p per Ordinary Share was declared today in respect of the quarter ended 30 September 2021, in line with the board’s target dividend of 5.55p for the year ending 31 March 2022. The dividend will be paid on or around 13 December 2021, with the corresponding ex-dividend date being 18 November 2021.
The company has a range of investment pipeline opportunities that are under consideration, which it said would be “balanced with the existing share buy-back programme and the prudent objective of retaining sufficient liquidity at all times”.
CSH : Civitas’ NAV nudges up