Property duo at odds over London

GREAT Portland Estates' young gun Toby Courtauld, at 33 the youngest chief executive of a blue-chip company, plans to focus the group's property portfolio increasingly on central London. But old hand Mike Slade of property group Helical Bar today warned of slower tenant demand there and said that the high level of property profits generated in recent years may decline.

Courtauld expects Great Portland's property portfolio to be more than 90% concentrated on central London in the future. With two-thirds of this property debt-free and the average cost of debt sharply lower, he believes 'central London markets to be fundamentally healthy' and adds: 'We are well placed to take advantage of opportunities within them.'

Slade, meanwhile, said pre-tax profits at Helical Bar fell to £22.6m from £25.8m in the year to March and added that he was worried about the fall in rental levels in central London and a shortage of tenants in the Thames Valley.

Great Portland has sold off property outside London worth more than more than £850m since 1999, bringing its portfolio up from 51% in central London to its current level of 90%. Great Portland shares today slipped 9 1/2p to 276 1/2p while Helical Bar was down 20p to 802 1/2p.