Land Securities beats expectations

The £1.4bn development programme was almost entirely responsible for the good news. The company's leasing team signed up more tenants for the Walkie Talkie building that is now towering over 20 Fenchurch Street in the City of London; 56 per cent of the space is pre-let or in solicitors' hands, with completion expected next April.

Chief executive Rob Noel announced he was pressing the red button on the £768m first phase of Victoria Circle, its joint venture with the Canadian Pension fund. Construction on the recently levelled island site opposite Victoria train station - to include mainly offices, but also some shops and restaurants plus 170 flats - will start next month and complete roughly three years later.

Meanwhile, the standing investment portfolio, which pays for the company's dividends and costs and backs its debt, remained broadly flat over the year. This was a surprisingly strong result - it fell by 1.2 per cent in value in the first half. Rents continue to fall in the regional retail portfolio, but the losses were made up by the ongoing strength of the company's London assets.

Brokerage Investec expects adjusted net asset value (NAV) to hit 927p a share by March 2014.