St Modwen’s profits jumped 48% in the first half, helped by higher property valuations. Daily Telegraph. Financial Times. The Times

Pretax profits rose to £65.1m from £43.9m, driven by a 124% increase in valuation gains, while net asset value per share rose 12% to 361p since November last year.

Bill Oliver, chief executive of St Modwen, acknowledged that full-year results from the biggest property companies would be disappointing.

’With interest rates going up to 5.75% and yields still down at 5%, that is not sustainable, is it?’ he said. But he insisted it was still possible to create value, despite questions over the direction of the market.