The property sector continues to drift lower with the leaders bearing the brunt of the falls. However, the downward movement is in line with the market as a whole rather than a general move away from property shares.
The FT Actuaries Property Index is now more than 140 points below its all-time high — attained in the middle of July — the kind of fall usually associated with a major move away from the sector. But this does not appear to be the case. Certainly some institutional investors have sold some of their property holdings, but in most cases the sales have been profit-taking moves and entire holdings have not been sold.
On Thursday August 13, the leading stocks were mixed: Land Securities was unchanged on its overnight level, but MEPC eased 5p to 527p and London & Edinburgh Trust fell 7p to 168p. Greycoat managed a 6p gain to 400p and Lynton Property & Reversionary added 5p to 363p, but Laing eased 3p to 444p. Elsewhere, Baker Harris Saunders slipped 5p to 370p and Helical Bar lost 7p to 268p. London & Metropolitan lost 5p to 271p, but Trafford Park firmed 3p to 420p and Arnold Ziff’s Town Centre Securities put on 3p to 106p.
The downward drift continued on Friday August 14, with Land Securities 3p lower at 542p and MEPC 8p down at 519p. Fletcher King slipped 5p to 258p and Peel Holdings eased 5p to 655p. But there were some major gains. Capital & Counties gained 50p to 415p ahead of the quotation of the £182m rights issues which will reduce TransAtlantic’s holding in the company to 67% from the present 97% control.
Country & New Town firmed 3p to 188p and the results and deals from Dares Estates added 1 1/2p to the shares, which closed at 70p. Lynton Property & Reversionary gained 32p to 395p and Wingate added 20p to 340p on news that Chase Corporation intends to acquire more assets in this country. Among USM stocks, Randsworth firmed 2p to 245p. Mountleigh eased 4p to 276p as the group became involved with a contested bid for Storehouse.
On Monday the leaders were again marked lower with Land Securities 12p down at 530p and MEPC 10p down at 509p. Rosehaugh lost 1/8 to £10 1/8 and Trafford Park fell 10p to 420p. Fletcher King remained under pressure and slipped 8p to 250p. British Land fell 6p to 330p.
But Westminster & Country gained 20p to 270p and London & Metropolitan added 12p to 295p, Arlington was in demand and added 6p to 261p, while Capital & Counties gained a further 10p to 425p.
Trading on Tuesday saw MEPC fall below 500p with a 15p loss to 494p and Land Securities fell by the same sum to 515p, Great Portland eased 6p to 274p and Capital & Counties fell 43p to 415p in its ex-rights form. EPIC, where London Securities is to mount a bid, fell 15p to 265p. Brixton Estates lost 11p to 236p and USM stock Rivlin eased 5p to 188p. Against the trend, Estates & General gained 25p to 205p and Rush & Tompkins gained 7p to 345p.
Closing prices on Wednesday did not reflect the shakeout of the sector earlier in the day. MEPC closed unchanged at 490p after dropping to 472p and Land Securities rallied to close 4p off at 510p. But there were nonetheless some dramatic falls. Greycoat lost 20p to 375p, almost 100p off its high of the year. Imry slipped 8p to 500p and Hanover Druce fell 10p to 380p. Asda dropped 10p to 715p and Chesterfield and Clayform lost 10p apiece to 680p and 303p respectively, but Bradford gained 10p to 710p.
