LandSecs sales hit by crunch
Land Securities, the UK’s largest developer, said yesterday lettings and asset sales are running at a slower rate than last year, reflecting the on going gloom in the property market.
Chief executive Francis Salway hinted that the slump could last for at least another 12 months, as occupiers struggle to cope with the downturn in the economy.
“We believe that occupier reaction to economic conditions will be the key factor in determining property performance over the next 12 months,” he said. His comments appeared in a trading update yesterday, ahead of Land Secs’ Annual Meeting in London today.
Investment property sales were 0.2 per cent below March 2008 valuations at £67.2m. The amount of vacant space in its portfolio rose 3.5 per cent from 3.4 4 per cent at the end of March.
The company said it was pressing on with plans to split the company up three ways, but would only do so when the market was showing signs of recovery. It is mulling a sale or a demerger of its property outsourcing business Trillium and admitted it was looking at a number of offers for the business.
Names that have been linked in the past few months with Trillium include private equity group Cinven and Australian bank Macquarie. Shares in Land Secs have lost nearly 45 per cent in the past year and fell 3.5 per cent yesterday to 1114p.