Orphanides revalues properties

Orphanides Public Co. (ORF), the largest supermarket chain listed on the CSE boosted its book value per share sharply higher after a major revaluation of its real estate and property holdings.

The fact that ORF decided not to declare a dividend in sharp contrast to last year, where for the 2004 results, it had paid a 1 cent per share dividend was not welcomed by the market as the share price was marked 1.4% lower to 21 cent, in contrast to a rise in the CSE index.

Net profit for 2005 was lower at CYP 2.28 mln from CYP 3.12 mln in 2004, with the EPS down at 2.82 cent from 3.86 cent previously, with the price to earnings ratio at 7.3 times.

Book value jumped sharply higher to 64.26 cent from 42 cent per share, according to Financial Mirror calculations after Orphanides revalued its property assets by CYP 18.7 mln, boosting the reserve account to CYP 35.85 mln from CYP 16.19 mln and shareholders funds’ to CYP 52 mln from CYP 33 mln. The price to book value however, remains very low at 0.32 times.