Landsec posted a pre-tax profit of £243m in the six-month period to 30 September 2024 thanks to further growth in office occupancy rates and rental uplifts across its retail and London portfolio. In the same period last year the company posted a pre-tax loss of £193m.
Landsec enjoyed a 0.9% uplift in the value of its portfolio in the six-month period and said its strategic focus on creating a “best-in-class portfolio” had paid off, with the company securing 6% rental uplifts on re-lettings and renewals across its retail and London portfolio.
Landsec said its retail portfolio had also benefitted from the continued focus of brands on “fewer, bigger, better stores”, with the company securing significant store upsizing deals with brands such as Primark, Pull&Bear, Bershka, Sephora and JD Sports.
Mark Allan, chief executive of Landsec, said: “Our operational outperformance continues, with further growth in occupancy and positive rental uplifts across our retail and London portfolio, which is translating into accelerated income growth. Combined with our focus on cost efficiencies, we therefore raise our outlook for EPRA EPS and now expect FY25 to be in line with last year’s level despite £0.5bn of net disposals over the past year, and for this outperformance to flow through into FY26.
“At the same time, property values have stabilised, with growth in rental values driving a modest increase in capital values, resulting in a positive total return on equity. We expect these trends to persist, as customer demand for our best-in-class space remains robust and investment market activity has started to pick up. We have continued to reposition our portfolio towards higher-return opportunities and are confident of deploying further capital towards this in the second half. Having managed our balance sheet well as markets corrected, we are now well placed to deliver growth and attractive returns.”
