U+I posted development and trading gains of 11.8% in the full year to the end of February 2016.
The £51.1m uplift was a record for the company, formerly known as Development Securities, and was driven by a merger with Cathedral Group in May 2014.
The gains, along with a rise in NAV of 4% to £363.3m, helped offset the cost of the merger. Profit was still down 25% on the year before to £25.8m.
This pushed earnings per share from 26.8p in 2015 to 17.5p for the financial year to the end of February.
Debt in the company rose to 44% over the year, but chief executive Matthew Weiner said that following the reporting period, debt carried on the Deptford Project, which completed in February, was repaid, reducing gearing in the business to around 33%.
The company also formally announced that it had signed terms with a partner for its new build-to-rent scheme.
Weiner said the business was on track to more than double its development gains over the next few years as it changes its model to include not just the public schemes of recent years but partnerships with corporates.
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