Minerva records profits
The London based property development company, Minerva, reportedly went back into profit as of yesterday, after the biggest property slump in decades.
The London Evening Standard has announced that the company, who recently declined a ''hostile'' takeover bid from its largest shareholder, reported pre tax profits of £45.6m in the first half of its financial year. This is welcome news for the company that reported losses of £186.7m during the height of the property decline.
Minerva holds a property portfolio of city offices and luxury London housing - a portfolio which has risen in value by over 10 per cent to £979.9m.
The company has cashed in on the demand for office space in the centre of the capital. After recent jobs in construction were created in its 450,000 sq ft Walbrook and St Botolph developments, the company was seen to generate over half of all new office space in the square mile this year alone.
Chairman, Oliver Whitehead, commented on the profit, saying: ''We have now passed the cyclical low in the commercial property market.''
''We are confident that with the extremely limited supply of new offices in the City of London, the building will be successfully led on attractive terms.''
Demand for commercial premises is expected to remain high for the foreseeable future, particularly from the financial, media and insurance sectors who themselves are seeing strong growth.
Author: Sarah Howard
Keywords: jobs in construction