Land Sec shares rise after strong third quarter

Shares in property giant Land Securities rose as much as 3% after it gave its first quarterly results since announcing plans to split the business into three parts.

The third quarter update said the firm made a net profit on property sales of £17.7m and had managed to secure 67% of the equity financing for a new investment fund for property outsourcing business Trillium.

The firm said it built 22,100 sq m of property during the last three months, and was on track to meet its target of 241,700 sq m of development across the whole year, with 93% of the space pre-let. In addition it said it had sold £507 million of property over the three months, with the number of empty premises decreasing from 4.2 to 4.1%.

Chief executive Francis Salway told the stock exchange in a statement: “Whilst our investment portfolio will not be immune from the general negative trends, we are well placed to run the business in the current environment and to exploit opportunities that may arise.”

He said the firm would continue with its plans to split the business into three firms – focusing on it retail business, its London interest, and the Trillium division.