St Modwen bags the Elephant

REDEVELOPMENT of the Elephant and Castle shopping centre, the unloved lump of concrete just south of the Thames, is back on the agenda following its acquisition by St Modwen Properties. The shopping centre and racecourse developer chaired by Sir Stanley Clarke completed its £29.5m acquisition on Thursday and had its first meeting with Southwark Council on Friday.

Finance director Bill Oliver said the council, which fell out with previous developers over regeneration plans, had been 'quite receptive'. Although definitive plans are at least a year away, he said: 'We would ideally build additional retail with lots of residential above it.'

St Modwen also revealed a 33% increase in pre-tax profits to £14.5m on turnover of £57.6m for the first six months of the year. Development profits of £10.5m, up 62%, were equal to 80% of the total profits from development made in the whole of last year. Net assets grew by 19% to 143.4p a share, a rise that was matched by the dividend, up 19% to 1.9p a share.

The company also announced it had bagged Ian Menzies Gow, executive chairman of Geest, as a non-executive director.