The UK’s largest property investment and development company Land Securities Group plc (LON: LAND) posted underwhelming fundamentals for the half year ended 30 September.
More uplifting updates from the property sector came with Shaftesbury plc (LON: SHB) booking robust leasing activity, Berkeley Group Holdings Ltd (LON: BKG) restating its confidence in the South-East market and Redrow plc (LON: RDW) posting strong results and completions.
While the Land Securities’s revenues bounced 0.4% year-on-year to £225 million, the Group swung from a £42 million profit to a £147 million loss on-year. Further, Land Securities’s valuation deficit widened from £188 million to £368 million.
Further, although the Company’s dividend per share rose 2.7% to 23.2p on-year, their basic EPS swung from 5.9p earnings to a 19.6p loss. Also, during the six months between March and September, the Group’s net assets per share fell 3.2% from 1,341p to 1,298p.
Land Securities comments
Responding to the update, Chief Executive Robert Noel, said,
“Landsec had a good first half, delivering resilient results in unsettled market conditions.”
“We have made excellent progress on our £3.0bn pipeline of development opportunities, with 1.0 million sq ft now on site. Our new products, Myo and Fitted, have landed well with customers. We have been proactive in the tough retail market, maintaining high occupancy and protecting income. We have extended our leadership in sustainability by setting further stretching targets. And we’ve upped our pace in innovation, introducing better ways to design, construct and manage space.”
“With a general election next month and the UK’s proposed exit from the EU further delayed, we remain alert to market risks. However, Landsec enters the next six months with confidence; we’re in a strong financial position, have an exciting development pipeline and are agile enough to seize value-creating opportunities as we see them.”
Investor notes
The Company’s share price rallied 0.38% or 3.40p to 895.40p per share 12/11/19 16:35 GMT. Peel Hunt analysts reiterated their ‘Hold’ stance on Land Securities stock. The Group’s p/e ratio is 14.94, their dividend yield is inviting at 5.09%.