U.K. real estate investement trust Land Securities Group Plc said it has maintained high levels of activity across its London and Retail portfolios with the continued success on lettings on a number of projects that will drive both valuation surpluses and income growth.

The company said it is positioned to take advantage of the right buying opportunities this year, although current flows of capital into the sector mean that bidding may remain competitive.

The first quarter of 2011 is likely to see mixed news flow around the consumer and the economy, but we expect occupational demand from large corporates to remain steady, said chief executive Francis Salway.

It is our expectation that we will soon be in a position to start a further retail development at the Atlas Site in Glasgow, such is the interest in the new space that will be created,' said Salway.

In its London portfolio, the void level on the company's like-for-like properties was 7.0 percent at December 31, 2010, up slightly from 6.9 percent at September 30, 2010.

The void level on its Retail Portfolio like-for-like properties was 4.6 percent at the end of December 2010, down from 4.9 percent at September 30 last year.

As at December 31, 2010, net debt was 4.2 billion pounds ($6.7 billion), compared with 4.15 billion pounds at September 30.

For the half year ended Sept.30, the company posted pretax profit of 455.3 million pounds, compared with a loss of 4.6 million pounds in the corresponding period of the prior year. The results were helped by a valuation increase on its portfolio of 3.4 percent. As at Sept. 30, net assets per share were 795 pence.

Shares of Land Securities ended Tuesday's trading at 698.50 pence on the London Stock Exchange.

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