St Modwen says strategy on track after solid 2017

St Modwen Properties reported its new strategy was on track as the regeneration-focused property company reported solid annual results on Tuesday.

In the year to the end of November St Modwen's net asset value per share rose 4.6% to 450.9p as trading profit climbed 15.2% to £646.6m. The company announced a 4.6% rise in the annual dividend to 6.28p a share.

The FTSE 250 company agreed a £475m new credit facility in November to fund a strategy focused on commercial property, housebuilding and regeneration to improve return on capital. St Modwen said that with the plan in place chairman Bill Shannon would step down at the annual meeting in March 2019, having joined the board in 2010 and became chairman in 2011.

Mark Allan, St Modwen's chief executive, said: "2017 has been a positive year for us. Having established our new, more focused strategy, we started to shift our portfolio towards sectors with better structural growth characteristics. Despite continuing uncertainty in the external environment, the significant potential in our existing pipeline means we expect to deliver a meaningful improvement in earnings and return on capital in the medium term."

St Modwen shares, up 20% in the past year, were down 2.8% to 384p at 09:54 GMT.