Preliminary results Land Securities for the year ended 31 March 2004

Land Securities published its FY 2003/04 results, which came out better than expected as a result of a higher-than-expected valuation result on the retail and office portfolio and higher-than-expected bookprofits on sales.

Highlights

  • Adjusted diluted net asset value per share up 9.2% to 1331p (2003: 1219p)
  • Investment portfolio valuation uplift of 5.3% to £8.15bn (2003: £7.84bn), with the like-for-like portfolio recording an 6.7% increase to £6.22bn (2003: £5.73bn)
  • Profit before tax rose by 16.7% to £373.1m (2003: £319.6m)
  • Pre-tax revenue profit decreased, as expected, by 8.0% to £309.2m (2003: £336.2m)
  • Adjusted earnings per share decreased, as expected, by 6.0% to 47.86p per share (2003: 50.89p per share)
  • Notable activity within the investment portfolio, demonstrated by continued strong performance of the retail portfolio, rising 11.5% over the year, improving Central London market demonstrated by a 0.8% like-for-like increase in value and sale of £682.1m of investment property, creating FRS3 profits of £52.1m
  • Completion of 153,000m2 of development, with 82,000m2 let, or agreed subject to contract
  • Land Securities Trillium on target to achieve Group’s aspirations for growth. New business highlights included the expansion of the DWP contract and being selected as preferred bidder by Aviva for a major outsourcing project
  • Proposed full year dividend increase of 4.5% to 37.1p (2003: 35.5p).


Peter G Birch, Chairman, commented: “We made good progress in the year to 31 March 2004, with the 9.2% rise in adjusted diluted net asset value per share once again demonstrating the benefits of a clearly defined strategy and a soundly financed and well-managed asset-backed business.

“We remain very encouraged by the potential for our investment portfolio, the schemes in our development programme and the opportunities available to us in the property outsourcing market.

“We are also pleased by the potential for the Group should an appropriate REIT structure be introduced. We believe that this will attract new capital into property and will be positive for the economy.

“Over four years the Group has transformed itself from an asset accumulator to a customer focused modern property business. The Board’s confidence in our prospects is reflected in this year’s dividend increase.”

Source: LandSecurities

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