New NPT board plans to keep annual dividend steady

NPT's newly installed board confirmed plans to keep the property investor's dividend unchanged this financial year as it works through changes at the company.

"The board has undertaken a thorough review of the FY18 business plan and have today confirmed that the dividend will be a minimum of 3.6 cents per share. This represents a conservative approach as we work through the options for NPT's future direction," chairman Bruce Cotterill said in speech notes for the annual general meeting in Auckland.

NPT posted a 63 percent drop in annual profit to $3.1 million for the 12 months to March after some of its properties reduced in value and it faced extra costs from a proposed deal with Kiwi Property Group that didn't proceed.

The company's board has been overhauled since shareholders voted to reject a proposal to hook up with larger property investor Kiwi Property Group in April, and instead favoured a proposal by rival property company and cornerstone NPT investor Augusta Capital to block the deal and appoint three new directors to the board.

The new board has "worked hard to understand the current position of the company, its assets and its potential for growth," said Cotterill. He added, however, "we aren't in a position to provide any detail at this time, we are working on a number of initiatives that we expect will deliver better returns to our shareholders and would set us on a clear path to growth."

He said there would likely be an update in the "coming weeks."

Chief executive Tony Osborne was absent from today's annual meeting.

The company's shares were unchanged at 59.5 cents and are down 7 percent so far this year.

(BusinessDesk)