Shares in Land Securities (LAND) fell 4 per cent in early trading after the diversified landlord reported a 1 per cent drop in its September net asset value per share from end-of-March levels to 867p.
This reaction may be overdone in what was an otherwise solid first-half performance. Net rental income grew 5.2 per cent on a like-for-like basis to ÂŁ284mn, and Landsec nudged its full-year rental income growth guidance upwards to 4-5 per cent from 3-4 per cent.
It also now expects full-year earnings per share (EPS) growth to be at the top end of its 2-4 per cent guidance range, compared with consensus expectations of 1 per cent.
The company is continuing to pivot out of offices and into retail and residential. It has sold ÂŁ295mn of offices in the year to date. Total first-half disposals of ÂŁ644mn were sold at roughly a 10 per cent discount to their book value.
“We continue to benefit from our proactive portfolio repositioning, and our entire business is also benefiting from a sharper focus on sustainable EPS growth as our primary performance objective,” said chief executive Mark Allan.
