Land Securities director buys first round of shares

Stacey Rauch, a non-executive director of FTSE 100 property firm Land Securities, has purchased £40,950-worth of shares in the company.

Rauch, 53, only joined the board at the start of this month, and the transaction marks her first take up of shares in the firm.

The purchase was made on January 24th, the same day as the group's third quarter update, which covers the final three months of 2011, was announced.

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The results revealed that total property sales in the quarter were £104m at 1.9% below March 2011 valuations and at an average yield of 7.6%.

Total investment in the quarter reached £89.1m, including capital expenditure on developments of £51.1m and acquisitions of £11.1m. The acquisitions were at an average yield of 1.4%.

On the same day the company also revealed that chief executive officer Francis Salway will be succeeded by Robert Noel, currently Managing Director of the London Portfolio, at the end of March.

The company's share price is roughly at the same level it was this time last year, but up more than 11% over the last month.

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