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Land Securities (LAND) £15.80

Land Securities was battered for most of 2007, but conditions for the UK’s largest property investment company remain satisfactory. The recent trading update saw all three divisions performing well. Disposals were made above book value, the yield on the portfolio is healthy and voids are low. The planned demerger of the three operating divisions is still on the cards and is expected to unlock value as the market normally attributes higher valuations to focused (rather than diversified) businesses. Andrew Gibson from Galvan Research and Trading says: ‘The commercial property market certainly hasn’t been helped by the problems in the credit markets, but the market has overreacted. The shares of quality property plays such as Land Securities have performed well in January despite the turmoil in the stock market. We put this down to value investors building up their positions. From a trading perspective, there looks to be further to go in the short-term recovery.’

ACTION: BUY Land Securities • Target £17.00 • Stop loss £15.00

TIME TARGET: 4 WEEKS