Flexible lift for Saville Gordon

CASHFLOW and net asset value (NAV) at Saville Gordon Estates, one of Britain's biggest industrial landlords, received a useful boost in the first half of the year as companies large and small rushed to snap up Flexilet leases.

Annual rent roll to 31 October rose £1.7m to £46m while NAV was up 1.6p to 144.6p as Flexilet accounted for 65% of all new leases among Saville Gordon's 2,000 or so industrial tenants. Flexilet allows a tenant to back out of a six-year lease after a year on three months' notice with no comebacks.

Saville Gordon's profit before tax was trimmed by £300,000 to £7.8m because of interest charges on January's buyback of 29.7% of the share capital from Jack Petchey's Trefick company.

That deal, combined with demand for Flexilet leases, drove basic earnings per share up 29% to 3.33p. The interim dividend rises 20% to 1.5p.