Brexit hits REIT shares
FTSE 350 REIT share prices are down by 7% two months on from the referendum. The FTSE 350 added 7.7% to its value since 23 June, but property companies have been left behind, with Workspace and Derwent London losing more than 20% of their value in that time. Tritax and Hansteen made the biggest gains with growth of 8.6% and 6.9% respectively.
Persimmon posts gains
Persimmon posted a 29% rise in pretax profits in its half-year results. The company recorded a jump in profit from £272m to £352m in the six months ended 30 June, and sold 7,238 homes, up from 6,855 in December. Following the results, the housebuilder’s shares hit a post-referendum high.
Profit jump for Hansteen
Hansteen’s adjusted profits were up by 28.1% to £29.2m in the first half of 2016. The company’s EPRA NAV per share had a year-on-year growth of 8.4% to 120.5p, as the total value of its portfolio rose by £16.1m, or 1%, on a year-on-year basis. Total assets were up by 9.7% to £1.6bn.
M&G appoints Stone
M&G Real Estate has appointed Matthew Stone as head of long income real estate, replacing Steffan Francis, who retired earlier this year. Stone is a former group property director of Kingfisher and before that was head of EMEA corporate finance at Cushman & Wakefield.
