Land Securities beats IPD in busy six months

LAND : Land Securities beats IPD in busy six months

Land Securities has generated an 11.5% uplift in net asset value and a 7.5% uplift in earnings per share over the six months that ended on 30 September 2014. The ungeared return on property was 9.9% – ahead of the 9.3% return on the IPD index. the dividend was increased by 3.9% to 15.8p.

They have been busy reshaping their property portfolio with the sales of centres in Bristol, Exeter and Sunderland and the purchase of Bluewater, Kent and Buchanan Galleries, Glasgow. Sales totalled £655m between 1 April and the date of the report,  purchases were £834m over the same period and they spent £220m on development activity (finished the Bishop Centre, Taplow; planning application for 240,000 sq ft development in Worcester; planning in Maidstone was refused – they are deciding on next step; 20 Fenchurch Street, EC3 is 90% let and the sun problem is sorted; 1 & 2 New Ludgate, EC4 is 61% pre-let, six months ahead of practical completion;  123 Victoria Street is fully let; 62 Buckingham Gate is 69% let;  The Zig Zag Building is 35% pre-let, nine months before completion; and Nova, the largest piece in their “Victoria masterplan”, they say is progressing well with practical completion expected in July 2016.

Debt levels rose slightly to £4.6bn – an LTV of 33.6% (up from 32.5%).