Plaza Centres plc announced late last month that it recorded €1.2 million in pre-tax profit at group level during 2022. A return to pre-pandemic normality together with an improvement in business activity was identified as the main reason that brought about an improvement over the €0.87 million pre-tax profit achieved in 2021.
The parent company’s occupancy level for the year 2022 averaged at 90 per cent, a seven per cent increase over 2021. This contributed to revenue increasing from the €2.5 million in 2021 to €2.9 million in 2022. Operating costs also saw an increase from the €1.42 million of 2021 to the €1.44 million of 2022 – yet when one considered cost-to-income ratio the result is a decrease from the 56.1 per cent of 2021 to the 50.3 per cent of 2022. Non-operating costs, driven mainly by finance costs, remained in the vicinity of where they were in the previous year at €0.33 million.
The business registered a net cash movement of -€1.1 million as at December 2022; this is an improvement over the previous year’s -€1.9 million. The year 2022 was closed with a cash and cash equivalents figure of €1.5 million, 42 per cent lower than it was in the previous year (€2.6 million).
Plaza Centres plc saw a dip in both total assets and liabilities in 2022: €36.8 million and €10.2 million respectively as opposed to €38.6 million and €11.8 million of total assets and liabilities in 2021. The company’s equity totalled €26.6 million in 2022, registering a slight decrease of 0.8 per cent from 2021.
The directors recommended a total dividend of €600,000 over the year 2022 which is in line with that of 2021. This was split between an interim dividend of €250,000 (€0.0098 per share) and a final net dividend of €350,000 (€0.0137 per share).
In comments accompanying the company’s financial statement the group noted that after Tigne Place Limited (a subsidiary of the group) went into voluntary liquidation at the end of 2021, it was struck off the MBR registry in March of this year. The company also announced that during the month of June 2022, Esports Avenue Limited was incorporated and it leased 150sqm of retail space within the Plaza Shopping Centre. However, the group did not expect this venture to be profitable over the next months.
In its end of 2022 financial report, the company reiterated its intention to keep pushing forward further green initiatives which have so far varied from energy efficiency, waste reduction and green energy investment. The company is also working on a formal ESG policy with the aim to keep reducing the carbon footprint generated by the company.
In terms of business performance, the group expected further upgrades and renovation to its retail and commercial space for the year 2023 which should “ensure it remains competitive and attractive in line with the new markets' standards and demands.” Finally, the company promised to “continue to explore the feasibility and attractiveness of a number of growth opportunities which make economic sense to the business.”
