Land Securities Posts Surge In H1 Profit, Lifts Dividend

Land Securities Group PLC LSGOF reported a strong rise in its first half pretax profit and raised its dividend. Land Securities posted a pretax profit of 397.9 million pounds ($636.59 million), up from GBP131.4 million, in the year-ago period. Its diluted earnings per share jumped to 50.6 pence from 16.8 pence. Its underlying pre-tax profit gained to GBP156.5 million from GBP143.7 million, while adjusted earnings per share rose to 19.9 pence from 18.4 pence.