Renouf shifts emphasis

Press, 19 June 1986, Page 22

Renouf shifts emphasis

PA Wellington Renouf Properties is to keep ownership of five properties in central Wellington which will have a combined value of about $lOO million by the end of 1988, the managing director, Mr Philip Stratford, told yesterday’s annual meeting. Mr Stratford said the company’s decision to retain some of its properties repre-

sented a shift from being a company mainly involved in property development to one where some of the emphasis was moving to ownership. He said there were two reasons for the shift in emphasis. The first was that it was more secure and profitable to build and hold properties. The second was that the company perceived a desire by shareholders to take more

interest in property-owning companies than in propertydeveloping companies. Mr Stratford said that as promised in the company’s annual report, a property had now been bought in Auckland. The company has bought a Symond Street property near the Sheraton Hotel, details of which would be released shortly, he said. A large city block re-

development in the capital had been described as one of the "great land grabs” in Wellington’s history. He was delighted that Renouf Properties had "the lion’s share” of this block, with involvement in five projects, and with potential for at least one more. The car parking complex was earning about $875,000 a year gross.