Newly-appointed Land Securities (LAND) chief executive Mark Allan has started building his holding in the commercial landlord by purchasing shares in the group worth almost £150,000. Former St Modwen (SMP) boss Mr Allan started work in the top job in April, replacing Robert Noel, who announced his retirement last year.
At a purchase price of 503p a share, Mr Allan bought into the group on the first trading day after its market valuation hit a 12-month low. Like peers, Landsec has suffered a shortfall in rent collection for the second quarter, receiving only 63 per cent of rent due at the end of March. What’s more, the commercial landlord is not hopeful about recouping those arrears, taking a £23m provision that was equivalent to almost three-quarters of the outstanding amount during the year to March.
The economic impact of Covid-19 has exacerbated existing pressure on a structurally challenged retail estate, which suffered a decline in value of more than a fifth last year and caused the group’s pre-tax losses to soar. Even after excluding the second-quarter rent provision, like-for-like rental income from retail assets was down 4 per cent.
The group is also taking a more cautious approach to developments. While it is onsite at four schemes totalling 1m square feet, it has only committed capital expenditure to 21 Moorfields, EC2, which is fully let. It has the option to call a stop to development activity at ground level on the remaining three, which has left the group with £340m of committed unspent funds on sites currently in the development programme.
| Buys | ||||||
| Company | Director/PDMR | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Comments |
| Connect Group | Anthony Grace (cfo) | 13 May 20 | 100,949 | 19.7 | 19,887 | |
| BT | Jan Du Plessis (ch) | 13 May 20 | 500,000 | 105.7 | 528,500 | Purchased by PCA Magdalena Du Plessis |
| BT | Philip Jansen (ceo) | 13 May 20 | 1,834,000 | 109.6 | 2,010,064 | |
| Photo-Me International | Serge Crasnianski (ceo) | 13 May 20 | 210,000 | 40.99 | 86,079 | Purchased by PCA Tibergest PTE |
| Photo-Me International | Serge Crasnianski (ceo) | 14 May 20 | 355,000 | 41 | 145,550 | Purchased by PCA Tibergest PTE |
| Standard Chartered | Byron Grote | 14 May 20 | 15,000 | 3,937 | 59,053 | Converted from $ |
| Standard Chartered | Byron Grote | 14 May 20 | 2,553 | 3,896 | 9,945 | Converted from $ |
| Dalata Hotel Group | John Hennessy (ch) | 14 May 20 | 30,000 | 222.79 | 68,155 | Converted from € |
| Smith & Nephew | Roland Diggelmann (ceo) | 14 May 20 | 5,500 | 1,510 | 83,074 | |
| Land Securities Group | Mark Allen | 14 May 20 | 29,686 | 502.77 | 149,252 | |
| PureTech Health | Bharatt Chowrira | 14 May 20 | 10,000 | 221 | 22,100 | |
| Photo-Me International | Stéphane Gibon (cfo) | 15 May 20 | 50,000 | 40 | 20,000 | |
| Standard Chartered | Byron Grote | 15 May 20 | 2,447 | 3,855 | 9,432 | Converted from $ |
| Watchstone Group | Stefan Borson (ceo) | 15 May 20 | 30,000 | 159 | 47,700 | |
| Novacyt | Graham Mullis (ceo) | 15 May 20 | 9,493 | 310 | 29,428 | |
| Novacyt | James Wakefield (ch) | 15 May 20 | 20,000 | 304.9 | 60,980 | |
| Serica Energy | Malcolm Webb | 18 May 20 | 18,290 | 108.8 | 19,900 | |
| Countryside Properties | Michael Scott (cfo) | 18 May 20 | 5,000 | 301.7 | 15,085 | |
| R.E.A. Holdings | Michael St Clair-George | 18 May 20 | 50,000 | 51.4 | 25,700 | |
| Sells | ||||||
| Company | Director/PDMR | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Comments |
| Treatt | Richard Illek | 15 May 20 | 32,000 | 504 | 161,280 | |
| Croda International | Maarten Willem Heijbroek | 19 May 20 | 1,100 | 5,072 | 55,792 | |
| Croda International | Maarten Willem Heijbroek | 19 May 20 | 1,100 | 5,060 | 55,660 | Sold by PCA Manon J J Heijbroek-God |
