SLI Property Income trust forecasts 10% dividend rise

Standard Life Investments' Property Income Trust plans to grow its dividends by 10% this year after buying £21m of property in 2009.

The managers of the £68.1m trust say it has a prospective dividend yield of 7.3% based on its share price this week, compared to 3.2% from the FTSE All Share index. The trust paid total regular dividends of 4p per share for 2009, and a special dividend of 0.25p per share distributed in February. This year, the UK commercial property trust will pay three dividends each of 1.1p per share, starting in May. The board says this reflects "confidence in future earnings resulting from recent purchase activity together with the strong revenue reserve position". David Moore, the trust's c...