Half-yearly Report part 1 of 2

14 November 2007 For immediate release Land Securities Group PLC ("Land Securities"/ "Group") Interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2007 Highlights * Strong performance in growing net assets * Basic NAV at 2356p up 52p * Adjusted diluted NAV up 55p to 2236p, an increase of 2.5% * Out-performance vs IPD Quarterly Universe benchmark by 2.3% * Valuation surplus of £130.8m or 0.9% on the investment portfolio * Valuation uplifts from London offices of 4.2%, and Central London shops of 0.7%, with valuation deficits of 1.5% for shopping centres and 3.9% for retail warehouses * Excellent progress on the development programme * Valuation surplus on development of £174.2m * Development lettings totalling 850,000 sq ft * Investment portfolio property sales of £929m at 7.8% above March 2007 valuations (before disposal costs) * Investment portfolio valuation of £15.0bn * Pre-tax profit of £375.2m (2006:£1,178.2m), down as a result of smaller valuation surplus * Revenue profit down 10.5% at £172.8m * Earnings per share * Basic EPS at 78.57p down 57.1% * Adjusted diluted EPS up by 11.0% at 36.46p * First two quarterly dividends for 2007/08 of 16.0p each, as announced Retail Portfolio * Princesshay shopping centre development in Exeter opened, now 92% let * £0.6bn assets sold in H1, 4.1% above valuation (pre-disposal costs) * Joint venture entered into with J Sainsbury on three supermarket assets since period end London Portfolio * 1.1 million sq ft of developments completed in H1 and now 95% let * Record rents for Mid-town in the range of £71psf - £76psf achieved in the tower building at New Street Square * The entire office element of 372,000 sq ft at Bankside 2&3 let to Royal Bank of Scotland * £0.3bn assets sold in H1, 15.3% above valuation (pre-disposal costs) Property Partnerships * Land Securities Trillium new business - £65m invested and £209m committed in acquiring PFI contracts * Disposals of £83.0m generating a profit of £25.1m * Good progress on establishing the PFI fund: new £568m debt facility signed since period end. Commenting on the results, Francis Salway, Chief Executive of Land Securities said: "We have benefited from a well timed development programme and a well timed sales programme. The profits from our developments have ensured that we delivered a positive increase in shareholders' net assets. And the combination of the development profits and our selling assets at above valuation have ensured that our property portfolio has out-performed the general UK commercial property market." Review of Business Structure The Land Securities Board has completed its review of the structure of the business and has concluded that over the long-term the Group's component businesses, and shareholders, will benefit from separation, and proposes to demerge the Group into three specialist separately quoted entities. This change will represent a continued evolution of the company's business model. In 2004, the Group demonstrated its preference for a focused, sector-based approach by exiting industrial property and moving the group structure to one built around the Retail, London and Outsourcing sectors rather than the functions of asset management, development and outsourcing. Since this time, the Group has developed three specialised business divisions, which have enjoyed strong growth and each of which has considerable scale and leadership positions within their respective peer groups. These three divisions have performed well under the current diversified structure, but the business models are distinctive and have different financial characteristics: * RETAIL: The Retail division seeks to create and enhance long-term dominant assets through development and active management. It focuses on creating attractive, retail environments to generate sustainable earnings growth. * LONDON: The London portfolio has a greater emphasis on development activity and capital recycling to manage effectively the cyclical nature of its office market. The portfolio also offers a broader investment in London as one of the world's major financial centres. It has material retail assets and also major retail and residential elements in its development programme. In addition, it offers shareholders significant value creation potential from its Kent Thameside development, which will be material relative to the size of this business. * PROPERTY OUTSOURCING: The historic value creation from Trillium, with a return on capital since acquisition of 28% per annum, has been outstanding. It now has market leading positions in both property outsourcing and PFI. However, with the growing role of PFI and PPP contracts, Trillium's business and operations have increasingly different characteristics from property investment, and as such the key valuation metrics are also different. Trillium has grown by 57% in the last year in terms of floorspace under management, and it now manages more floor space than the London and Retail divisions combined. Land Securities' brand and balance sheet have been important to the development of Trillium to date. However, Trillium now has the size and track record to operate independently of Land Securities. Having regard to the different characteristics of Trillium's business and the different valuation metrics, the Board considers that the creation of long-term shareholder value is best achieved by demerger. For the Retail and London divisions, the Board also believes that, over the longer term, the development of each business and the needs of investors will be better served by a separation of the two. Specifically, * They operate in market segments with different characteristics and they will be able to adopt a capital structure best suited to their respective sectors' outlook; * They will, in future, each have an acquisition currency that should be valued in line with the assets or businesses they may wish to acquire at any point in their respective cycles. As a combined group, the market rating of London and Retail will tend to reflect an average of the less favoured sector and the more favoured sector, reducing its effectiveness as a potential acquisition currency; * The full benefit of successful investment decisions will be more visible and have greater financial impact in separate focused entities. As separate companies: * The management teams of London and Retail will have a clear investment mandate and be able to allocate capital without competing demands driven by the cyclical dynamics of a different property segment; * Shareholders will be given the choice of making sector allocations in line with their individual investment preferences. Shareholders benefit from greater liquidity and lower transaction costs in dealing through shares to change sector allocations, than can be achieved by a diversified property company transacting in property assets; * The businesses will be better placed to take advantage of significant inflows of capital into global real estate funds which typically favour investment in specialist companies. Over time, the ability to access this expanding pool of capital is expected to help drive the valuation of specialised property groups. Both businesses will retain: * The strength of their customer relationships through an unchanged presence in their customers' markets; * Stability of cash flows and stable income growth, which result from the five year, upward only rent review structure in the UK. Extensive and detailed work needs to take place before the company is in a position to seek shareholder approval and effect the demergers. The demergers will be executed when the preparatory work has been completed and only when market conditions are favourable. Commenting on the review of business structure, Francis Salway, Chief Executive of Land Securities said: "We have three strong businesses, all performing extremely well. However, our Board is committed to remaining at the forefront of an evolving property sector and recognised the need to test our current business structure. We have considered the issues carefully with a focus on the long-term. We have concluded that the development of these businesses and the interests of shareholders are best served by demerger into three separate, specialised businesses, each of which will be of a scale to be at the forefront of their sectors." -Ends- Land Securities will be holding a results presentation today at 9.30am (GMT) and a live web-cast will be available at http://pres.landsecurities.com/ landsecurities035/default.asp An interview with Francis Salway and Martin Greenslade, Group Finance Director, is available at http://pres.landsecurities.com/landsecurities035/default.asp Francis Salway / Donal McCabe John Sunnucks / David Allchurch Land Securities Group PLC Tulchan Communications T +44 (0)20 7413 9000 T +44 (0)20 7353 4200 Notes to editors Land Securities is the UK's leading Real Estate Investment Trust. Our national portfolio of commercial property, worth many billions of pounds, includes some of Britain's best-known shopping centres, such as the Birmingham Bullring and Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, as well as London landmarks such as the Piccadilly Lights and Westminster City Hall. We are leading urban renaissance through our billion pound development programme, transforming Exeter, Bristol and Cardiff city centres as well as key sites in Central London. We are also one of the leading names in property outsourcing and through urban community development are involved in long-term, large-scale regeneration projects in the south-east.
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