Capital & Regional’s operating profit has fallen to £150,873 from £211,461, a performance which chairman Martin Barber (shown here) considers satisfactory, given the problems in the UK and US property markets. Pre-tax profit, however, is well down because, in the equivalent period of 1989, it had been boosted by £3.1m on the sale of investment properties, taken above the line.
The company started selling and degearing in 1988 and says that its liquidity is now allowing it to take advantage of current market opportunities. Among the initiatives is the formation of a new division which will work out projects for lenders who have foreclosed. And, in the USA, C&R is spending $4m on a residential complex in Miller. Indiana, which it intends to refurbish; the company says that when the 682-unit Marina Dunes is fully let it should produce some $2m of income pa.
