London and Stamford to merge

Property company London and Stamford Property is to merge with rival trust Metric in a deal that will leave it with three quarters of the enlarged company.

Under the terms of the merger, Metric shareholders will be entitled to receive 0.94 new ordinary shares for each Metric ordinary share, resulting in them owning 25%.

London & Stamford also said that following completion of the merger it intended to return £100m to shareholders of the company.

The announcement came the firm announced a 30% increase in underlying trading profit to £14.6m in the six months to the end of September, compared to the previous period.

Executive Chairman Raymond Mould said he was convinced the deal flow was increasing and that the quality of opportunities is high.

"The spread between initial yields on current opportunities and the cost of debt provides the potential for double digit cash on cash yields which can contribute to an increasing level of dividend cover and ultimately dividend growth," he said.

MM