UK property group Landsec's annual loss shrinks
FY EPRA NTA per share 859p vs market estimate of 852p
FY pre-tax loss narrows to 341 mln stg vs 622 mln stg yr ago
Shares down about 3% in morning trade
Adds company comment in paragraph 2, share move in paragraph 3, CEO comments in paragraph 5
By Aby Jose Koilparambil
May 17 (Reuters) -Land Securities Group LAND.L reported a smaller annual loss on Friday, helped by higher occupancy levels, even as the office and retail landlord saw 625 million pounds ($790.7 mln) wiped off its property portfolio in 2023.
The London-based firm, which completed the sale of its portfolio of 18 UK hotels to Ares Real Estate for 400 million pounds last week, said it expects activity levels in the market to pick up, spurred by the relative stabilisation of long-term interest rates.
Jefferies analysts in a note pointed out that Landsec has to grapple with the problem of its non-core assets outperforming core properties other than shopping centres.
Shares in the FTSE 100 firm, which have fallen more than 23% over the last 12 months, were down about 3% to 430.29 pence at 0838 GMT.
The company said its EPRA net tangible assets per share - an industry measure that reflects the value of its buildings - fell 8% to 859 pence for the year ended March 31, above a company-compiled analysts' consensus of 852 pence.
High interest rates and incessant macro-economic worries have dampened a tentative recovery in the highly-leveraged British commercial property sector from pandemic lows, while the office space portfolio has struggled amid evolving work habits.
Landsec CEO Mark Allan said in a media call that credit conditions were improving but it would be a steady move rather than a rapid one, and also flagged that refinancing of cheap debt issued before 2022 remained a challenge for parts of the sector.
About two thirds of Landsec's properties are in central London.
The company posted an annual pre-tax loss of 341 million pounds, reflecting a 6% writedown in its portfolio valuation. This compared with a loss of 622 million pounds posted a year earlier.
Overall occupancy at Landsec's properties increased 140 basis points to 97.3%, while like-for-like net rental income grew 2.8% across its London properties and major retail assets.
($1 = 0.7905 pounds)
Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Susan Fenton
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
