Laing in talks to unload property unit
BUILDER John Laing is to follow the £1 sale of its troubled construction arm by offloading another division. Talks are underway to sell Laing Property as part of the troubled group's attempt to raise up to £120m by selling assets.
Laing wants to focus on its housing division and its investment business. The property business, which develops and manages commercial, retail and industrial property, had profits before interest and tax of £13.2m last year and sales of £61.1m.
Shares in the group, which had been worth more than 500p in March, fell 1 1/2p to 128 1/2p. The stock is still suffering the after-effects of Laing's construction arm, which stacked up losses of £195m in its last three years. Laing sold the business to Essex firm O'Rourke in September. It took a hit of £30m on the sale and called a £72.8m rights issue.
Finance director Adrian Ewer said the latest sale would enable Laing to focus on core businesses and provide the property arm with a better opportunity to grow. 'This will give us clear headroom and an ability to move forward with the investment and housing businesses in the future,' he added.
Ewer said the housebuilding division, which focuses on the south-east, had not seen any signs of an impact from the economic slowdown: 'Evidence on the ground is that people are still buying houses.'
