Home REIT said it was carrying out enhanced audit procedures, which include a detailed review of the material allegations made against the company and its advisers by short sellers.
The company on Monday said continues to “work constructively” with its auditor to ensure that the full year results for the period to August 31 can be published as soon as practically possible and expects this to be no later than the end of next January.
Home REIT said its portfolio continued to operate effectively, with rents flowing from tenants. It also declared an interim dividend of 1.38p a share for the three months to August 31.
The sheltered housing investment trust last week faced new allegations that it misled shareholders and owes them redress for “significant losses”.
Law firm Harcus Parker, which specialises in mounting class actions, said it was considering suing Home REIT on behalf of investors after its research allegedly found that the trust had “used investors’ money in a way which runs contrary to what investors were told”.
Home REIT went public in October 2020 and then tapped investors for £850m, which it spent on a portfolio of almost 12,000 beds in houses and small blocks of flats let to the homeless.
Last month it was attacked by Viceroy Research over the viability of its portfolio, while activist investor The Boatman Capital also weighed in, demanding the resignation of Home REIT’s chairwoman Lynne Fennah and Marlene Wood, the chairwoman of its audit committee.
Boatman Capital accused the company of being “over-optimistic in its assumptions” on the value of its portfolio. The allegations meant that the company’s results, which were due tweeks ago, had to be delayed.
Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com
