Euro industrial property landlord posts healthy value gain

European industrial landlord Segro posted a 2.5 percent rise in ful l-year net asset value, and said it would exit Spain and Hungary to focus on its stronger core markets including the UK, France and Germany.

The company posted EPRA NAV per share of 376 pence in the year to end-December 2010, up from 367 pence a year ago, while its net rental income increased 4.7 percent to 282.1 million pounds in the period, Segro said in a statement on Thursday.

'Spain and Hungary are relatively small investments for us, and the economics are not encouraging for us to put more into those markets,' said CEO Ian Coull, adding Segro's focus on the continent will be in Germany, France, Poland and Benelux.

At 0800 GMT, Segro's shares opened up 1.5 percent to 326.8 pence each, ahead of the 0.3 percent fall in the broader UK property stocks index. Segro, which has a portfolio worth 5.3 billion pounds, said it cut its group vacancy to 12 percent, from 13.5 percent a year ago, and proposed a final dividend of 9.6 pence per share for a total 2010 dividend of 14.3 pence, up 2.1 percent on 2009.

Source: London South East