Land Securities continues to focus on securing income from its development pipeline after completing £9.3m of development lettings in the first quarter to the end of June.
The UK’s largest property company said it completed £5.8m of lettings in its London portfolio, including 34,800 sq ft to Panmure Gordon and bwin at One New Change, EC4, taking the retail and office scheme to 94% let.
It did not provide any further information on its City tower, 20 Fenchurch Street, EC3, but confirmed that 51,000 sq ft is let to insurer Markel International and a further 11% is in solicitors’ hands.
In the West End, at 123 Victoria Street, SW1, it said the scheme, which is due to complete in August 2012, is now 42% prelet.
LandSec added that since 1 April it has completed £3.8m of investment lettings across the London portfolio, and secured two strategic sites, including the St James’s Park Centre in Victoria and 19-23 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1, behind Piccadilly Lights.
In its retail portfolio it completed £3.5m of development lettings with a further £2.3m in solicitors’ hands.
Despite the widespread lettings progress, the REIT said voids in its like-for-like portfolio have increased from 3% at 31 March 2012 to 3.2%, although units in administration came down marginally from 1.2% to 1.1%.
In the retail portfolio, voids were flat at 3.6%, while they crept up slightly from 2.5% to 2.9% in the London portfolio.
The REIT did not make any sales in the quarter to 31 June 2012, but invested £148m, including £59.5m of capital expenditure on developments.
As at 31 June, adjusted net debt was £4bn, and group LTV was 38%, which will reduce to 34% on receipt of all proceeds from disposals already recognised.
It said the first interim dividend for the current financial year will be 7.4p a share.
LandSecs’ chief executive Rob Noel said: “Our focus continues to be to secure income from our developments. We are pleased with progress, and continue to see interest from occupiers, despite ongoing uncertain economic news flow. While transactions are taking longer, occupier interest and intent remains firm as businesses seek out efficient space for their future needs.
“We remain confident that the development pipeline offers exceptional opportunity to deliver growth while our active asset management and strong financial base underpin our activities.”
bridget.oconnell@estatesgazette.com
