Development Securities’ new chief executive Matthew Weiner has unveiled a series of new strategic initiatives for the business following the acquisition of Cathedral Group and a proposed rebranding.
The company, which subject to shareholder approval will be re-named U + I Group, plans to focus on a reduced number of larger regeneration opportunities in and around London, Manchester and Dublin.
It will also create a series of specialist platforms for specific asset classes in conjunction with long term capital partners, starting with the launch of a marketing process to establish a private rented sector jv.
As part of the new strategy the company, which has now fully integrated Cathedral Group following the acquisition last year, is now undertaking a “change process” for its investment portfolio designed to improve performance.
An imminent relocation into a combined new headquarters in Victoria will mark the completion of the integration of the Cathedral business.
The new strategy came as Weiner unveiled half-year results for the business to the end of August showing a 3p fall in NAV per share and a drop in pre-tax profits from £18m to £1.4m.
Earnings per share slipped from 26.8p at the end of February to 1.2p.
Weiner said: “Using our combined expertise we have put in place a number of strategic initiatives as we seek to enhance our position as the UK’s most respected mixed-use regeneration company.
“Central to the future evolution of our strategy is a much closer collaboration between our development and investment teams giving us greater scope for delivering the maximum value from every asset in our portfolio. Our combined capabilities also provide us with greater opportunities to take on a reduced number of more significant regeneration projects, whilst remaining disciplined in our ambition to deliver 15% per annum pre-tax total returns.”
