Land Secs FD increases stake

Land Securities finance director Martin Greenslade has been adding to his shareholding. He bought 11,000 shares at 612.4p each. This £67,000 investment took his stake to 470,029 shares. Chief executive Francis Salway and London Portfolio MD Robert Noel have also been buying in recent weeks. Greenslade became finance director of the UK's largest REIT in September 2005. Last week Land Securities said it made progress in its first quarter, but it cautioned that the overall picture remains mixed with demand strong in some property sectors but weak in others. The company said that there was strong investor demand in some sub-markets, but early evidence of price resistance in others. Total property sales in the quarter totalled £302.9m at 2.6% above March 2010 valuation and an average yield of 1%. Acquisitions were £174.6m at an average yield of 5.6%, with the O2 Centre, Finchley Road, in London and the Westgate Centre in Oxford accounting for most of that. In the investment portfolio, voids dipped to 5.7% from 5.9% while units in administration fell to 0.8%. "There was good progress on lettings, success in selling properties into the areas of strongest investor demand, improvements to debt facilities from further treasury initiatives, progress on its London development pipeline and a start announced for the first large retail development in recent times at Trinity Leeds," said Salway. Top Director Buys Polo Resources (POL) Director name: Mr Neil Lindsey Herbert Amount purchased: 4,000,000 @ 5.95p Value: £238,000 Polo Resources (POL) Director name: Mr James (Jim) Mellon Amount purchased: 2,000,000 @ 5.88p Value: £117,600 Land Securities Group (LAND) Director name: Mr Martin F Greenslade Amount purchased: 11,000 @ 612.40p Value: £67,364 Polo Resources (POL) Director name: Mr James (Jim) Mellon Amount purchased: 1,000,000 @ 5.90p Value: £59,000 KEFI Minerals (KEFI) Director name: Mr Ian Rutherford Plimer Amount purchased: 1,600,000 @ 0.80p Value: £12,800 Avon Rubber (AVON) Director name: Ms Stella J Pirie Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 116.50p Value: £11,650 Top Director Sells Asian Citrus (ACHL) Director name: Mr Pang Yi Amount sold: 1,410,000 @ 43.78p Value: £617,298 Asian Citrus (ACHL) Director name: Mr Chi Keung Sung Amount sold: 200,000 @ 43.78p Value: £87,560 JD Wetherspoon (JDW) Director name: Mr Su Cacioppo Amount sold: 8,000 @ 425.00p Value: £34,000