GPE portfolio climbs 7.3%

Great Portland Estates reported a 7.3 percent uplift in its portfolio valuation since March with total property returns up 10.1 percent, surpassing the IPD’s central London index of 8.3 percent. The company enjoyed rental value growth of 5.1 percent overall with West End offices performing best with a 6.9 percent rental uplift.

Adjusted net asset per share rose 11 percent in the half year to 314p and adjusted profit before tax came in at £15m, up more than 11 percent on the same period in 2009. The company said it had 11 near-term development projects of 1.8m sq ft, four schemed totaling 205,000 sq ft were on site and progressing well towards autumn 2012 completion, and seven schemes were expected to start during 2011. A further 1.1m sq ft of pipeline projects were in the design stage.

Toby Courtauld, chief executive, said that growth rates in London’s investment markets had slowed, as expected, over the past four quarters. While there continued to be a surfeit of buyers over sellers, particularly from overseas, the company believed these more “sedate” conditions would persist into 2011 as the uncertain macro environment continued to affect sentiment in the short term.