Mall sale lifts Lend Lease profit

 

Stamp approvedDeveloper Lend Lease says the STG656 million ($A1.20 billion) sale of its interest in an upmarket UK shopping mall will boost its 2014 net profit by 45 per cent.


Lend Lease said it had sold its interest in the Bluewater Shopping Centre along with its management rights and sundry land interests there for an additional STG40 million ($A73.01 million) to Land Securities Group PLC.

The profit on the sale after tax and costs would be about $480 million, the company said.

Lend Lease is forecasting a full year net profit for fiscal 2014 of $810 million to $830 million.

Its 2015 net profit is expected to be $600 million to $620 million, according to analysts and which Lend Lease agrees with.

The shopping centre in Kent is one of Europe’s top performing retail assets catering to the country’s most affluent catchment.

Lend Lease CEO, Steve McCann, said the cash proceeds would go to paying down debt.

It would also support investment in the company’s $38 billion global development pipeline, including urban regeneration projects in London.

Lend Lease has accounted for a higher expected tax rate of 16-19 per cent, it said.

It expected to pay a dividend in the mid-point of its policy of 40-60 per cent of earnings.

AAP

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