CREO reports £91m pretax loss, rental income up 23%

China Real Estate Opportunities (CREO), the publicly quoted property company backed by Treasury Holdings, has reported a pretax loss of £91.6 million for 2008.

CREO, which was floated on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) last year said the value of its property portfolio rose by 61 per cent to over £1 billion largely due to the significant appreciation of the Chinese yuan over the last financial year.

The company said its net asset value stood at £13.24 a-share at the end of 2008 which represents an increase of 59 per cent.

The company floated at a share price of £7.68 in July 2007 when it raised £260 million which it used to buy retail and office properties in Shanghai and Beijing.

CREO said its valuations were based on a independent survey of its properties. Chairman Ray Horney said the company had delivered a “robust performance” despite the financial crisis.

While the Chinese economy was not immune to the downturn, he said in a statement, it was “expected to comfortably outperform most western economies, with a forecast growth rate of 6.8 per cent of GDP.” As a result CREO was “cautiously optimistic about the outlook for 2009”.

CREO said its gross rental income increase by 23 per cent last year to £26 million due to an increase in lettings and rent renewals. It said average occupancy in 2008 was 92 per cent.

Due to the company's low share price last year it repurchased 3.5 million shares which it subsequently cancelled, reducing the total number of shares in issue to 47.7 million.

The company reported a loss in basic earnings per share of £1.96 compared to a earnings of £1.30 in 2007.

Property players Richard Barrett and John Ronan own Treasury Holdings, which coupled with other related parties holds 54.9 per cent of CREO.