Brixton says property specialists will beat slowdown

LONDON (Reuters) - The UK's only pure industrial property real estate investment trust, Brixton, said it was confident its specialist status could shield its prospects as the property sector braces for a market correction.

Brixton (BXTN.L), whose key assets are in southeast England, Greater Manchester and London's Heathrow Airport area, buoyed the flagging market after reporting an 11.4 percent increase in net asset value to 595 pence a share for the half-year to end-June.

"A less certain direct market is good for specialist companies who concentrate more on prime locations and quality product," Brixton chief executive Tim Wheeler said in a conference call on Tuesday.

Its shares rose 2.4 percent to 389.5 pence at 10:22 a.m. in response to the upbeat results, outperforming a 0.3 percent fall across broader UK property stocks as indicated by the FTSE 350 Real Estate Index .FTNMX8730.

The value of its portfolio including joint ventures rose by 8.2 percent on a like-for-like basis to 2,437 million pounds, against the Investment Property Databank benchmark of 1.4 percent growth, underlining continued demand for industrial and warehouse space in Brixton's core locations.

Rental growth also outpaced the market, with 4.8 percent achieved on lettings, renewals and reviews compared with 0.6 percent as measured by IPD.

OVERSOLD STOCK

Analysts at JPMorgan said the robust results confirmed their view that the Brixton stock, currently trading at a 36 percent discount to NAV, was oversold.

The majority of UK property stocks have suffered significant value depreciation since the beginning of 2007 after the market repriced shares which became over-inflated ahead of the launch of the UK's Real Estate Investment Trust regime.