Posted May. 5, 2008
By Susan A. Baird
PBN Web Editor
EAST PROVIDENCE – Capital Properties Inc. (Amex: CPI) posted a first-quarter profit of $404,000, a 6.3-percent increase from the year-ago period’s $380,000, on revenue that edged up 0.5 percent to $1.67 million. Basic income per common share was 12 cents, the same as in the 2007 first quarter.
In the company’s leasing segment, total revenue rose to $715,000 – an increase of $56,000, or 8.5 percent, compared with a year ago – “principally due to rent increases under short-term leases, including rentals from the Steeple Street building purchased in November (READ MORE),” Capital Properties said. But segment expenses rose to $190,000 – an increase of $52,000, or 37.7 percent – mostly on property taxes and other expenses associated with the Steeple Street property.
Meanwhile, “construction on our parcels in the Capital Center continues to move ahead despite the downturn in the economy,” Robert H. Eder, the company’s new president, and a director of the Providence and Worcester Railroad Co., wrote in a letter to shareholders this spring.
In the petroleum-storage segment, total revenue dipped to $951,000 – a decrease of $24,000 or 2.5 percent compared with the 2007 first quarter – “due principally to lower contingent revenue as a result of lower throughput, offset in part by higher monthly rent,” the company said. Segment expenses fell $40,000, or 7.2 percent, to 515,000, as lower fees for legal and engineering services were partly offset by higher real estate taxes (an increase reimbursed by the tenant) and costs from the hiring of a new employee.
Interest income fell $24,000 year-over-year as the amount of cash available for investing shrank, in part because of the Steeple Street purchase, and interest rates declined.
On April 29, the company’s board of directors declared a dividend of 6 cents per share on Capital Properties’ common stock, payable May 28 to shareholders of record at the close of business May 14.
Capital Properties Inc. (Amex: CPI) and its subsidiaries operate in two segments: leasing, of both commercial real estate in downtown Providence and outdoor advertising sites along highways in Rhode Island and Massachusetts; and petroleum storage, at the Capital facility in East Providence. Additional information can be found at www.prnewswire.com.
