Land Securities swings to pre-tax loss
Land Securities swung to a full-year pre-tax loss but said it is well positioned for the current market.
The real estate giant reported a pre-tax loss, which includes the revaluation deficit on its investment properties, of £888.8m in the year ended 31 March from a profit of £1.98bn the previous year.
Revenue came to £379.1m compared with £392.2 last time, while basic net asset value per share fell 10.3% to 2067p. The group's investment portfolio valuation is down 8.8%.
Land Securities said it has made good progress on the planned de-merger of the company into separate businesses.
Additional costs of running three corporate entities are estimated to be around £15m per annum, with the businesses able to manage overall costs down once separated.
(Article continues below)Advertisement
The cost of finance for the three businesses is also expected to increase slightly.
"The market is demanding but we have performed well in relative terms this year and our results show considerable success in terms of value preservation in the face of a sharply falling market," said chief executive Francis Salway.
"We are well placed in the short term and for the medium to longer term, we have a plan for sustained value creation through demerger on which we are steadily progressing our plans," he added.
The group upped its full year dividend by 20.8% to 64.0p.
