LandSec | Scotland Roadshow

We are excited to be bringing FTSE 100 REIT, LandSec, up to Scotland in early December.

This is for institutional investors only. Please inquire / get in touch if of interest.

What: In-person non-deal roadshow with Ed Thacker (HoIR)

When: Wednesday, 6th December

Where: Glasgow & Edinburgh

Topics: HY results overview, strategy, outlook, your Q&A.

Land Securities is a FTSE 100 REIT, which predominately invests in and manages offices, shopping centres, retail parks, outlets and leisure facilities. The company currently yields c. 6.7%. 

The groups portfolio is valued at £10.9bn, with 61% of that being in the Central London sector of the portfolio. In addition to this is the regional retail, with some of the largest shopping and outlet centres in the UK including Gunwharf Quays, a growing area is the urban opportunities division of the portfolio which provides a ‘blank canvas’ for new potential mixed-use community projects and finally, the subscale sectors include leisure hotels and retail parks. 

Mark Allan, formerly CEO of St. Modwen and Unite Group, was appointed CEO in April 2020. He joined with a strong track record at his previous companies and him and his team (including the new CFO, Vanessa Simms, who joined in June 2021 from Grainger) have finessed LandSec’s strategy to include:

• Optimise Central London portfolio; willing to recycle mature projects into new scalable projects which they can develop, allowing for greater margin.
  • Sold £1.0bn of mature offices, including 21 Moorfields development which crystallised 25% profit on cost, bringing total London office disposals over last two years to £1.8bn at an average yield of 4.35%.
    
  • Delivered strong leasing, with £41m of lettings completed or in solicitors’ hands, 3% ahead of valuers' assumptions.
    
  • Current occupancy stable vs March at 95.1%, as demand for high-quality space remains resilient, notwithstanding a 4.4% softening in values due to general market yield shift.
    

• Reimagine retail; developing multi-purpose retail sites and create experiences with more reason to visit
  • 'Flight to prime' and upsizing of key brands, resulted in 6.3% YoY sales growth and LFL sales 3.6% above 2019 levels, as consumer behaviour is reverting back to pre-pandemic trend.
    
  • Built further on growing leasing momentum, with £27m of lettings signed or in solicitors' hands on average 12% ahead of ERV, up from 2% for the year to March 2022, driving 120bps increase in occupancy since March to 94.4% and underpinning resilience in valuations, with values up 0.4%.
    

• Use the Urban Opportunities for growth into new sites
  • Progressed preparation of 9.0m sq ft future mixed-use pipeline, with signing of drawdown agreement for first phase of office development at Mayfield and detailed planning for first phase at MediaCity.
    
  • U+I and Landsec teams integrated and sold or exchanged contracts to sell almost half of c. £180m of non-core U+I assets since acquisition in December 2021, on average 22% above book value.
    

• Realise capital from subsectors; aware that whilst these are stable assets to the business, LandSec does not possess enough to have any competitive advantage as such capital realisation may be used to develop projects in more profitable sectors.

LandSec still recognises and minimises its potential environmental impact, as such, it continues to procure 100% renewable energy across its portfolio and diverts 100% of waste from landfill across all operational activities. Retaining the company goal to have reached a point of carbon neutrality by 2030. Landsec is rated 1st for globally listed office development companies.