17th May 2016 06:31
LONDON (Alliance News) - Land Securities Group PLC Tuesday saw its pretax profit almost halve due to a reduction in the valuation surplus, but said it was hiking its dividend on continued leasing momentum in its development programme and longer-lease terms.
The real estate development trust reported a total business return of 13.4% for the year to March 31, with basic net asset value per share rising to 1,482.00 pence from 1,343.00p a year earlier and adjusted diluted NAV rising to 1,434.00p from 1,293.00p.
Pretax profit fell to GBP1.34 billion from GBP2.42 billion a year earlier, despite a 10% increase in revenue profit to GBP362.1 million coming from strong net rental income, after the valuation surplus fell to GBP907.4 million, from GBP2.04 billion a year earlier.
Revenue profit is an underlying measure which strips out valuation movements and any profits or losses on the sale of investment properties, along with any one-off items.
However, Land Securities, which is focused on the London development market and prime retail properties, raised its dividend for the year to 35.00p pence, from 31.85p a year earlier, as it hiked its final dividend to 10.55p from 8.15p. The company said this was because "after another strong year of lettings", it now has 500,000 square feet left to let in London.
"In London, we continued to lease up our well timed and well executed speculative development programme with over 500,000 square feet of new lettings and made progress on our future pipeline with 900,000 square feet of planning consents. We also took advantage of the strong market conditions during the year to sell some assets," said Chief Executive Robert Noel.
"Our strategy is delivering value for our shareholders, great space for our customers and positive change for our communities. We have a strong balance sheet with better assets and longer income streams. Despite the current political and economic uncertainty, Land Securities is well placed," Noel added.
By Hannah Boland; [email protected]; @Hannaheboland
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