Grainger sales pick up

Residential property owner Grainger expects to report a 42% jump in completed sales from its core and retirement solutions portfolio to about £78.5m in the six month ended 31 March.These completed sales include £5.2m of investment sales (sales with a tenant in place) and £14.9m of one-off sales of land and associated assets from its agricultural portfolio. In addition to these completed sales the group also has a further £30.8m of transactions in the pipeline, either with contracts exchanged or under solicitors' instructions. Sales made on vacancy, included in completed sales and the pipeline have been made at values approximately 6.3% above September 2009 valuations and at a trading margin of 42% (2009: 36%). Grainger said its development division has made good progress on sales from the second phase of its Hornsey Road development, where 21 units have now been sold for £6.4m and only five units remain. "As noted in our interim management statement, issued in February, we have taken advantage of the increased stability in the residential markets and selectively recommenced our acquisition programme," said the group. "In the six months to the end of March 2010 we have completed, exchanged on or placed in solicitors hands some £42.6m of property acquisitions. This compares with £12m of acquisitions for the whole of the financial year 2009. At 31 March we anticipate that we will have cash and committed facilities available to us of approximately £300m." Grainger plc