Property firm Mapeley says H1 strong

LONDON (Reuters) - Property outsourcing firm Mapeley said it had more than doubled its funds from operations (FFO) in the first half, showing not all constituents of Britain’s flagging property market were in crisis.

The company -- which focuses on the acquisition and management of assets occupied by government and blue-chip tenants -- said on Monday funds from operations climbed 129 percent to 63.1 million pounds in the six months to June 30, as more corporates looked for expert management of their property.

"Our solid performance reported at the end of the first quarter has continued throughout the first half of the financial year," said Chief Executive Jamie Hopkins.

"We have seen a strong operational performance on the outsourcing contracts and the direct property investments portfolio and this has left us in a good cash position at the end of the first half," Hopkins said.

The company reported pretax losses for the half year of 53.8 million pounds versus 30.2 million pounds for the same period last year, on the back of non-cash property portfolio revaluation losses in line with prevailing market conditions.

Its net asset value per share tumbled to 1,617 pence against 1,862 pence at December 31 2007.

Average commercial property values in the UK have slumped by around a fifth since June 2007.

The value of .....continued below

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The company owns and manages a commercial property portfolio covering more than 2.3 million square metres across the UK. Some 92 percent of its annual rental income is from government or investment grade tenants and its average lease length is 10 years.

The company has declared a half-yearly dividend of 47 pence.

(Reporting by Sinead Cruise; editing by Rory Channing)

(See www.reutersrealestate.com for the global service for real estate professionals from Reuters)