C&R portfolio value reduces by 73%

Capital & Regional, which owns The Mall shopping centre in Blackburn, suffered a 73% drop in net asset value in the past financial year.

The company posted a pre tax loss of £113m in 2009, against a loss of £513m in 2008. NAV per share dropped from 174p to 47p. Property under management lost £900m in value and is currently valued at £3.1bn.

Hugh Scott-Barrett, chief executive of Capital & Regional, said: "Higher property values towards the end of the year have contributed to a much improved result for 2009. It is very encouraging to be able to report a pre-tax profit of £17m for the six months to 30 December 2009 in a year in which the Group's prospects have improved significantly as a result of decisive actions taken by the management team.

"We continue to generate recurring income from our role not only as a property investor but also as an asset manager and owner of operating businesses. Although we have delivered more than £3.5m of cost savings, this positive effect has been outweighed by the impact of falling valuations and dilutions as a result of the part-sale of the German portfolio and capital raisings by the three UK funds since June 2008. As a consequence we have reported recurring pre-tax profits of over £17m in 2009 compared to £28m for 2008."

Debt was reduced in 2008 from £113m to £80m, largely as a result of the repayment of the central facility following the Capital Raising.