CSC finance boss goes shopping

Matthew Roberts, finance director of the property group Capital Shopping Centres (CSC), has opened his account in the company, spending more than £100,000 on shares.

He took 30,000 shares at 335p a time, his first purchase of shares in CSC, which owns the Lakeside shopping centre in Essex as well as several others across Britain.

Roberts, previously a finance director at the department store Debenhams, joined CSC in May, soon after it emerged from the demerger of the property group Liberty International, which split into retail and London-focused arms. Despite its name, only one of CSC's shopping centres is in a capital city (Cardiff); most are in provincial cities such as Nottingham and Glasgow.

CSC said earlier this month that adjusted net asset value per share (diluted) in the first half of 2010 rose 9% to 368p from 339p at the end of 2009, as the market value of its investment properties rose from £4,631m to £4,919m.

UK commercial property generally has enjoyed a first half of the year, with the sector among the best performing of nine asset classes surveyed by Lloyds TSB. With a 9.6% rise, it was second only to precious metals, which climbed by 9.7%.