Hugh Scott-Barrett, chief executive of Capital & Regional, must sympathise with David Cameron. Having assumed leadership of the highly-geared property company in 2008 - well into the crash - his top priority so far has been to sort out the finances. After the emergency rights issue in 2009, the group made £627m-worth of disposals last year and restructured the debt profile of its core Mall fund. Net debts - including those of its subsidiary funds - now total 66 per cent of property values, down from 76 per cent in 2009.
Yet the share price remains stubbornly flat and, like the prime minister, Mr Scott-Barrett wants this year to be all about growth. The group made its first acquisition since 2007 in January, buying the Waterside Shopping Centre in Lincoln for £24.8m with a Luxembourg investment fund called Karoo and nearly £14m of debt.
Meanwhile, last year's improvement in profits and NAV was mainly due to the bounce in valuations rather than cash flow. Recurring pre-tax profits from rental income and management fees actually shrank with the portfolio from £17.5m to £14.9m.
Brokerage Peel Hunt expects adjusted NAV per share of 60p this year (57p in 2010).
| ORD PRICE: | 36p | MARKET VALUE: | £126m | |
| TOUCH: | 36-37p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 39p | LOW: 29p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | TRADING STOCK: | £70.8m | |
| DISCOUNT TO NAV: | 28% | |||
| INVESTMENT PROPERTIES: | £10m | NET DEBT: | 29%* | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 626 | 251 | 157 | 12.9 |
| 2007 | 491 | -167 | -117 | 13.4 |
| 2008 | 130 | -516 | -355 | 2.4 |
| 2009 | 37 | -113 | -59 | nil |
| 2010 | 50 | 46 | 13 | nil |
| % change | +35 | - | - | - |
Ex-div: na Payment: na *Excludes adjusted off-balance sheet net debt of £415m | ||||
