Capital & Counties' maiden results following its recent demerger from Capital Shopping Centres (previously Liberty International) show that even central London markets can prove rocky for property investors.
, its shares have fallen 20 per cent since May's listing due to a hangover of selling pressure from South African investors and institutional investors divesting their holdings (CapCo is no longer a real estate investment trust, and its size means its now a FTSE 250 company).
So do the shares now offer value for new investors? Based on pro-forma figures, the market value of the portfolio - which includes large chunks of Covent Garden and the Earls Court and Olympia exhibition centres - rose by 5.3 per cent in the period. Stripping out the exhibition centres (which in reality are a long-term development play) the uplift was 7.8 per cent. But this underperforms the industry's benchmark IPD West End Index - which registered 10.4 per cent growth in the same period.
Achievements include letting a flagship Covent Garden store to Apple (which opens next month) and another to fashion retailer Burberry, and the appointment of Sir Terry Farrell to masterplan the Earls Court site's predominantly residential development.
Broker KBC Peel Hunt forecasts 2011 adjusted NAV of 147p.
| CAPITAL & COUNTIES | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 112p | MARKET VALUE: | £696.4m | |
| TOUCH: | 111.75p-112p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 139p | LOW: 99.6p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 0.4% | TRADING STOCK: | £0.3m | |
| INVESTMENT PROPERTIES: | £1.31bn | NET DEBT: | 60% | |
| DISCOUNT TO NAV: | 19% | |||
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009* | 127 | -139.0 | -19.4 | nil |
| 2010 | 138 | 54.8 | 8.7 | 0.5 |
| % change | +9 | |||
Ex-div: 6 Oct Payment: 27 Oct *Calculated on a pro-forma basis prior to demerger from Capital Shopping Centres; NAV is Dec 2009 | ||||
Click for a guide to the terms used in IC results tables.
