Profits up, NAV down, at London and Stamford

Property company London and Stamford is licking its lips at investment opportunities in the UK after a year which saw profits shoot ahead.

Underlying profit for the year to March 31st rose by 60% to £25.4m from £15.9m the year before. Reported profit slumped to £22.2m from £73.9m the year before, largely because this year it booked a profit of just £5.7m on the revaluation of investment properties, whereas the year before the profit had been £51.0m. Net rental income eased to £35.5m from £36.1m a year earlier.

Net assets eased in value to £633.6m from £668.7m at the end of March, 2011, while net asset value (NAV) per share on an industry standard European Platform of Regulatory Authorities (EPRA) basis dipped to 119.1p from 122.5p the year before.

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EPRA earnings per share increased to 4.4p from 3.0p the year before, paving the way for an 11% hike in the total dividend to 7.0p from 6.3p.

Cash at the end of the financial year stood at £137m and has since been further increased by the proceeds from the sale of its Triangle Distribution portfolio. Net gearing at year end was 28%.

"Our total firepower currently is c.£900 million and this puts London & Stamford in a very strong position in a market which we believe is offering increasingly exciting opportunities for investment in good quality assets with good covenants at reasonable prices," revealed Raymond Mould, the Executive Chairman of London & Stamford.

The group, which targets UK propertied which offer double-digit percentage cash equity yields currently has four potential investments with a total value of around £300m in the pipeline.

JH