AUGSBURG (dpa-AFX) - Despite the gloomy mood in the real estate sector, real estate group Patrizia is planning to pay out a surprisingly higher dividend to its shareholders. The Management Board is proposing a dividend of 34 cents per share for 2023, the company announced in Augsburg 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/jha/