Land Securities damps down bid talk

BRITAIN'S biggest property group, Land Securities, attempted to quell bid talk and rumours of a boardroom row today by appointing a new chief executive of its facilities management division Trillium to replace the one it lost last December.

Ian Ellis is to replace Manish Chande, who was one of two Land Securities directors who shocked the property world by leaving last year. He was joined by director of strategy Peter Walicknowski, who was seen as the heir-apparent to current chief executive Ian Henderson, due to retire next year having been with the group since he was 26.

The resignations prompted bid talk that sent the shares climbing to 880p. Today the group was telling analysts of changes to its accounting policy, which it claimed would increase profits before tax for the year to next March by 'between £20m and £25m'. The shares lost 6p to 864 1/2p as bid talk subsided.

Land Secs' board was also strengthened today by the appointment of 51-year-old former Legal & General investment director David Rough as a non-executive director.