AUGSBURG (dpa-AFX) - The real estate group Patrizia is taking a cautious view of the current year. The economic environment remains a challenge, especially in the real estate sector, the company announced on Wednesday evening when presenting preliminary figures in Augsburg. The valuation pressure on real estate should continue into the 2024 financial year. For the current year, the SDax company is targeting earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 30 to 60 million euros. The share fell significantly.

The share price fell by a good seven percent on Thursday morning. While the figures were roughly in line with expectations, the target for operating profit for the current year is cautious, wrote analyst Kai Klose from Berenberg Bank.

In 2023, the operating result fell by 31.5 percent to 54.1 million euros. Reasons included the weak real estate environment and reorganization expenses, he said. The bottom line for shareholders was a profit of 5.8 million euros, a fifth less than in the previous year.

Patrizia's assets under management decreased by 3.2 percent to 57.3 billion euros at the end of 2023 compared to the end of 2022. Recurring management fees continued to rise, increasing by more than four percent to a good 251 million euros by the end of December. In contrast, fee income generated from transactions, among other things, fell significantly, meaning that total fee income fell by just under four percent to just over 312 million euros.

Despite the gloomy mood in the real estate sector, Patrizia intends to distribute slightly more to its shareholders. The Management Board is proposing a dividend of 34 cents per share for 2023, the company also announced on Wednesday. This would be one cent more than in the previous year and the sixth increase since payments began in the 2017 financial year. Analysts were expecting an average dividend of just under 19 cents.

The Patrizia Management Board intends to steadily increase dividends in the future. In the long term, the company aims to distribute more than half of the consolidated net income attributable to shareholders in the form of dividends. However, this will depend on the strength of the balance sheet, the Group's profitability and available liquidity as well as the general market environment.

Patrizia had already announced its intention to realign its dividend policy when it presented its nine-month figures in November./mne/ngu/men