Shares of Leeds-based property investor and car park operator Town Centre Securities (TCS) rose about 18% on Wednesday after the firm published results for the six months ended December 31, 2021.

TCS reported statutory net assets of £165.1 million or 313p per share, up 6.2%.

Statutory profit before tax was £10.5 million compared to a loss of £3.5 million a year earlier.

Interim dividend rose to 2.5p from 1.75p “reflecting the strong bounce back in earnings.”

TCS said its development pipeline has an estimated gross development value (GDV) of over £600 million.

TCS chairman and CEO Edward Ziff said: “We have seen a good recovery across all three segments of the business in the past six months with good momentum continuing into the early part of 2022.

“We also believe today’s results evidence the  success of our new strategic direction, to reset and reinvigorate the business for the future.

“Our level of rent receipts has been resilient throughout the Covid-19 period, and has now recovered back to pre-pandemic levels, an indicator of the diversified strength of our property portfolio, combined with the relative strength of, and our long-term relationships with, our tenants.

“Our shareholder returns initiatives have been bolstered by continuing property sales, and by our confidence in the potential of, and progress within, our £600m development pipeline.

“Over the coming months the effect the Ukraine conflict will have on the wider economy will hopefully become clearer.

“The impact of inflationary pressures on our business will include changes to consumer spending, increased property and other expenses, increased construction costs and rent affordability for tenants.

“Notwithstanding the macro-economic and geopolitical environment, we remain committed to delivering on our accelerated four pillar strategy of: actively managing our assets, maximising available capital, investing in our development pipeline and acquiring and improving investment assets to diversify our portfolio.”