Chesterton, NHP, Workspace and Savills buck an otherwise lacklustre month for real estate stocks
Property shares underperformed a steady stock market in December, with the FTSE Real Estate index falling 1.7%, while the All-Share rallied by a marginal 0.3%.
Quoted agent Chesterton rounded off a rocky 2001 with a staggering 55% jump in its share price, up 10.5p to 29.5p over the month.
The hike was due to reports over the Christmas period that Taylor Woodrow might launch a bid in order to acquire Chesterton’s facilities management arm.
Nursing home group NHP had another successful month. Its shares rose 24% to 56.5p after reporting solid results and being given a “strong buy” rating by analysts at UBS Warburg, who raised their price target for the firm to 80p per share.
Upbeat trading
Workspace also had a good December after releasing sparkling results at the end of the previous month. The group said its small business tenants were less affected by the post-11 September slump than larger firms. Its shares rose 17%.
Quoted agent Savills, whose share price fell 21% last year, rallied in the final month with a rise of 14%. Investors were reassured by an upbeat trading statement saying full-year results would be in line with expectations.
Property fallers included Shaftesbury, Helical Bar, Benchmark and Derwent Valley, all of which are either heavily weighted towards or have all their holdings in central London.
However, none of the top-10 fallers saw their share price reduce by more than 10% and only three by more than 5%.
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FTSE Real Estate index and All-Share index |
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Past three months |
The Real Estate index has failed to keep up with the post-11 September All-Share rally
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December property shares: the highest risers, the hardest fallers |
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The table shows property share price movements for companies with a market capitalisation above £15m |
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Market cap (£m) |
Share price at 2/01/02 |
Rise/fall on month (p) |
Rise/fall on month (%) |
Rise/fall on 3 months (%) |
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Top 10 gainers |
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|
1 |
Chesterton International |
25.0 |
29.5 |
10.5 |
55.3 |
63.9 |
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2 |
NHP |
81.2 |
56.5 |
11.0 |
24.2 |
46.8 |
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3 |
Workspace Group |
203.5 |
1240.0 |
180.0 |
17.0 |
21.3 |
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4 |
Savills |
110.0 |
176.5 |
21.5 |
13.9 |
21.3 |
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5 |
Mucklow |
143.0 |
232.5 |
25.0 |
12.1 |
20.5 |
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6 |
Grantchester |
184.3 |
182.5 |
14.0 |
8. 3 |
4.0 |
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7 |
Ashquay Group |
22.3 |
20.0 |
1.5 |
8.1 |
-11.1 |
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|
8 |
Panther Securities |
24.2 |
142.5 |
10.0 |
7.6 |
6.7 |
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9 |
Compco |
126.6 |
338.5 |
21.0 |
6.6 |
14.8 |
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10 |
Grainger Trust |
212.0 |
857.5 |
42.5 |
5.2 |
10.7 |
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Top 10 losers |
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1 |
CLS |
215.2 |
208.0 |
-18.0 |
-8.0 |
-4.4 |
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2 |
Shaftesbury |
345.2 |
262.5 |
-22.0 |
-7.7 |
-12.2 |
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3 |
Chelsfield |
652.2 |
267.5 |
-18.5 |
-6.5 |
-0.9 |
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4 |
Helical Bar |
228.0 |
760.0 |
-33.5 |
-4.2 |
3.4 |
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5 |
Derwent Valley Holdings |
349.1 |
661.0 |
-29.0 |
-4.2 |
-1.3 |
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6 |
Benchmark |
237.8 |
246.5 |
-10.0 |
-3.9 |
– |
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7 |
Development Securities Invest |
94.8 |
337.5 |
-13.5 |
-3.9 |
10.8 |
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8 |
Estates & General |
36.6 |
131.5 |
-5.0 |
-3.7 |
11.0 |
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9 |
Brixton |
520.6 |
215.5 |
-8.0 |
-3.6 |
-2.7 |
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10 |
Marylebone Warwick Balfour |
101.5 |
88.5 |
-3.0 |
-3.3 |
-15.3 |
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FTSE All-Share index |
2517.4 at 04/12/01 |
2526 at 02/01/02 |
0.3 |
5.7 |
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FTSE Real Estate index |
2004.7 at 04/12/01 |
1970.6 at 02/01/02 |
-1.7 |
-2.2 |
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Source: PA Listings |
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