Land Securities takes cautious stance on UK property

Land Securities Group Plc, Britain’s largest listed property developer, sounded a cautious note about the country’s real estate market on Tuesday after reporting slower growth in the value of its £14.6 billion ($22.07 billion) property portfolio.

The developer behind London’s “Walkie Talkie” skyscraper, attributed a 5.7 percent rise in its half-year adjusted net asset value per share (NAV) to a strong performance in its London leasing and retail businesses.

But the rise in NAV — which reflects the value of a property company’s buildings — was less than the 14.5 percent rise in the previous six months and came in below analysts’ expectations.

Shares in the blue chip company were down 3.2 percent by 1240 GMT, compared with a 0.5 percent fall in the FTSE 100 index.

Land Securities was one of the first companies to build speculatively after the property market downturn in 2008, but it said it had no plans to add to its speculative development programme, slated to be completed in July, because of rising land and construction costs.

The company also said it would reduce its leverage through further property sales. It sold 406.5 million pounds in assets in the six months from April. (RTRS)