Land Securities Share Discussion Threads

[badtime] 17/2/2009 09:29

Ouch..whers the bottom...lol..if only we knew

[skyship] 17/2/2009 09:04

Surely one of the most masterfully inept statements of all time. A classic textbook case of how not to have handled matters. Show the guy the door - and fast!

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The UK's largest REIT today said it was considering a rights issue following rights issues by rivals Hammerson and British Land.

The company, which is headed by chief executive Francis Salway, said in a statement to the Stock Exchange which it issued in response to recent press speculation, that it was considering launching a rights issue this week.

It said: 'Land Securities Group notes the recent press coverage in relation to a possible equity capital raising.

'The board confirms that discussions have been held to consider the merits of a rights issue and any decisions will be communicated to shareholders through the proper channels at the proper time.'

Hammerson has beaten its rivals to the cash trough by raising £584.2m from a deeply discounted rights issue last week.
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[careful] 15/2/2009 19:52

i have held land for years.
what a decline, from 2400 tp 600.
they used to be boring.
only a couple of years ago the net assets wre 2400 per share.
but now, with all of this bloody debt, the leverage works in reverse.


on a related topic, Alan Sugar's empire must have collapsed in value from his stated net worth of 850 m.(last years 'apprentice' series)
he is into commercial property in a big way, but don't know his debt position.
and his executive airline AMAIR must have collapsed in value.
CEO travel business or first class these days.
curious about his new net worth. at least halved i would guess.

[skyship] 15/2/2009 18:48

Land Secs joins queue for funds by Jenny Davey - S.Times - 15th Feb'09:

LAND SECURITIES is days from announcing a deeply discounted rights issue to restore its battered balance sheet.

Britain's biggest listed property company is in the final stages of approving a cash call, which is expected to raise between £500m and £750m.

The board of the developer is expected to meet this week to approve the issue, which will be underwritten by UBS, Cazenove and Citigroup. City sources said a final decision on how much money will be raised and when to proceed has still to be taken.

This weekend the board and its advisers remained tight-lipped about the deal.

The group, led by chief executive Francis Salway, has held detailed talks about a capital raising for several months, though it had hoped to avoid it through a combination of asset sales and a possible cut to the dividend.

The banking advisers have stressed the importance of the company being among the first wave of cash calls in the sector in order to ensure it gets investor support. The current advice for those considering big rights issues in the sector appears to be "to go big and to go early".

The Land Securities fund-raising will come just a week after sector rivals British Land and Hammerson raised £1.3 billion to bolster their balance sheets.

A capital raising would enable the company to pay down its debts and provide financial firepower to buy new assets at bargain prices. It will also prevent further asset sales at distressed prices.

Land Securities will try to persuade investors that it has called the cycle better than its peers. It has sold off more than £3 billion of property since April 2007 including its Trillium outsourcing division, and is negotiating the sale of a one-third stake in Birmingham's Bull Ring centre.

Salway has consistently been one of the most bearish chief executives running a large listed property group, warning last May that asset values and rents would carry on falling.

The group has put the brakes on development projects because of the tough market conditions – its next office development at One New Change, near St Paul's Cathedral in London, will not be completed until the end of next year.

Liberty International and Segro are both putting the finishing touches to capital raisings, expected to be announced within the next three weeks, while Brixton's plans are thought to be less advanced than those of its rivals.

The fortunes of the biggest listed property groups are at odds with smaller, nimbler rivals such as London & Stamford, Helical Bar, Great Portland and Derwent London.

Mike Prew, analyst at Nomura, said: "It's looking like the really savvy managements are all in the mid-cap companies. For the rest, the skies are darkening under the wings of chickens coming home to roost. None of the large-cap managements has distinguished themselves."

Bosses of the listed property companies will face increased scrutiny over pay and bonuses after being forced to sell off trophy assets at the bottom of the market then go cap in hand to shareholders to bail them out.
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[skyship] 13/2/2009 08:45

Sold to bank a quick profit as they dropped back through 700p earlier this week; but the thin blue line of support seems to have held - so bought them back @ 661p this morning. The support coincides with the brown 15day MA, so hopefully we can progress again from here.

Also bought into TAP yesterday - worth reading the thread and the recent RNSs - CIC have bt 28.5% - what is their plan!?

[rafieh] 10/2/2009 08:15

skyship,
I would say the next 2-3 weeks.

[skyship] 09/2/2009 08:58

The rights issues will mark the bottom of the cycle - should be some good %age gains over the next 2-3months.

[westcoastrich] 08/2/2009 08:22

BRITAIN's fourth-biggest property company will tomorrow launch a £600m deeply discounted rights issue to repair its battered balance sheet amid the worst conditions in the sector since the 1990s.

The cash call from FTSE 100 giant Hammerson – pitched at a 50% discount to Friday's closing share price of 397p – will lay bare the full extent of the crisis in the real-estate market.

It is expected to presage a string of rights issues across the sector, with British Land, Liberty International and Land Securities likely to follow suit.

[skyship] 07/2/2009 14:43

Target is the falling 50day MA cureently passing through 838p:

[skyship] 07/2/2009 14:24

Hard on the heels of the Morgan Stanley sector upgrade; and the statement by Charles Mackinnon, the respected CIO of Thurleigh Asset Management, that the CP sector was looking oversold and ripe for purchase, now comes welcome comment from the influential self-publicist economist Roger Bootle. To quote from Citywire:

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Roger Bootle defies reputation with prediction at ULI Paris conference

One of the City of London's best- known economists, Roger Bootle, foresees a recovery in the real estate industry before that of the wider economy.

Bootle, speaking at the Urban Land Institute's annual European conference in Paris this week, defied his reputation as 'Dr Death' for his gloomy economic forecasts and surprised delegates with an upbeat prediction that low interest rates over the next two years would have a positive impact on commercial property.

'I see an enormous amount of money waiting on the sidelines ready to be invested,' he said.

'The next two years will be pretty grim for the economy and the implications for the property industry will be falling rents and tenant defaults. However, the sector may see a rebound in activity and prices well before overall levels of economic activity have improved.'
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I bt in here on Friday @ 661p - looking for a rapid partial recovery to the 800p level. Also bought a few TRYS as a mid-ranking property investment trust trading on a 5.4% yield and at a 28% discount to its underlying investment portfolio. On the wilder side I also hold (from much higher) IERE - which after the TAP news yesterday may easily turn out to be a speculative multi-bagger - especially if they can make any more property sales at a 35% premium to the last valuation - as announced on Thursday!!

The whole sector is in for a rapid and a marked recovery which will take all ships higher as the tide comes in - for that, read the influx of asset manager cash needing to latch onto the yields and the assets before the prices move too far ahead of them....

[dazzler71] 06/2/2009 15:27

Expecting this one to go ballistic over the next few months as the recovery starts to kick in....going to take a while but a bargain at these prices.

[1nf3rn0] 05/2/2009 20:22

perfect, thanks!

[call-logger] 05/2/2009 20:03

6 months out of date though

[1nf3rn0] 05/2/2009 19:31

Does anyone know of a website where I can find out average commercial rent prices for different areas of the UK?

[john hampton] 02/2/2009 11:56

Just noticed how savaged this one has got, no idea where the long term support lines are but I will keep a watch on this over the following months. If this sector is to recover later in the year then as one of the leading property companies this has to start looking interesting as a buy. Surely a foreign predator will make amove this year, maybe Buffett? Anyway one to watch I feel.

[isa23] 21/1/2009 08:52

actually I think a rights issue is the best thing for property companies at the moment. Why sell your quality assets for a song in these depressed markets.

[kenny] 21/1/2009 00:51

Rumours of a rights issue may be resposible for share price decline.

[werock] 20/1/2009 14:13

i waited from well over 1200p till this week when i started buying. my average is 757p now. the company is valued at £3B, with asset worth £12B a few months ago which now depreciated to let's say £9B. takes away its debt £5.5B. Just about what it's worth now. so it's not a huge discounter like enrc or some mining stocks, i must admit. but considering its long term potential, i mean the asset depreciation has already discounted to about 30% from its sep valuation, and when the commercial porpery market recovers, share price should outperform.

[werock] 20/1/2009 13:32

but i still think it has far superior portfolio than its rivals. london still has future in the next 5 to 10 years, hasn't it?

[werock] 20/1/2009 13:29

fair enough, damian.

[damian] 20/1/2009 11:42

werock

Not really considering the economy is falling off a cliff !.

[werock] 20/1/2009 11:39

This one has fallen from 1000+ to this level, that's about 30+% off in a matter of six/seven session. Strange.

[isa23] 20/1/2009 09:30

I am surprised by the lack of interest here. This is a quality company with prime assets, long term debt and yield approaching 9.5%!!