Updates from Redrow and British Land
A 5.5 point lift for the FTSE 100 on Monday, ending at 6,825.3. ITV soared 3.55% to 218.7p - ITV shares are up almost 30% since early summer - while M&S lifted 2.58% to 441p. BAE Systems also climbed strongly, up 2.45% to 456p. Supermarkets, again, took a drubbing with Morrisons falling hardest, down 2.25% to 173.50p while Tesco shares fell almost 2% to 225.55p.
Shire and GlaxoSmithKline were also down, 1.20% and 0.98% respectively.
We start with final numbers from house builder Redrow. Group revenue climbs 43% to £864.5m driven by a 27% increase in legal completions and a 13% hike in average selling price to £239,500.
Pre-tax profit climbs 91% to £132.6m while adjusted earnings per share up 83% to 28.6p. Net debt is upped £172.6m vs £91m in 2013, due to ongoing investment in land and work in progress, claims Redrow.
"We have," says chairman Steve Morgan, "substantially increased our land bank, which should see a good growth in the number of outlets during the year. This, combined with our strong order book, leaves me confident that the Group will see another year of significant progress."
Next, British Land has disclosed that Metro Bank has signed for a 5,300 sq ft unit on a 25 year lease at Nugent Shopping Park in Orpington. The bank, due open in November, will be the company's second in Kent and the first in British Land's current portfolio.
The deal is understood to makes use of the relaxation in planning policy earlier in the year permitting change of use from retail 'A1' to 'A2'. The signing follows lettings at the park to Card Factory and pop up restaurant concept Pizza1889.
"The letting," says senior asset manager Edward Cree for British Land, "is part of our continued focus on creating well managed environments with a broad, convenient and high quality tenant line up."
Finally, Polymetal International has updated plans for the construction of the Svetloye gold project, and for the development of the Albazino-2, Kutyn and Maminskoye projects.
Its board has decided to re-prioritise the Company's internal project pipeline in order to focus capital and management resources on key priority projects it says.
"We have re-prioritised our project pipeline in order to focus our resources most effectively on low-risk and low-capital projects where we see clear scope for production growth and good upside potential," says Vitaly Nesis, CEO of Polymetal.
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