London property company reports increase in profits and plans to develop two London office spaces

Reported profits for Central London property investment and development company Great Portland are up.

There was a 15.5 per cent increase in net asset value and a 15 per cent rise in the value of its property portfolio.The total value of all its properties now stands at £1.25 billion and the company has beat the forecast trends put forward by real estate experts.

J P Morgan analyst Osmaan Malik said: “Great Portland currently ticks the right boxes – further room for acquisitions, strong development potential and positive outlook for rental growth”.

Chief Executive Toby Courtauld said: “We are ahead of target”.

The developer has also bought two new sites, which will provide 310,000 square feet of office space. Both of  the newly acquired spaces will be a developed as a joint venture with Starwood Capital Group, which will be known as Great Star Partnership.

Courtauld said: “When we raised capital from the market last year to invest in London to take advantage of price weakness due to the recession, we said we would invest that capital by the end of 2010”.

Over £260 million has been invested in both schemes. The spaces will be refurbished to a high specification to mirror the current high level of rent prices in London as a result of the recession.

Almost 80 per cent of Great Portland’s properties can be found in London’s West End.