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Shares in St Modwen jumped almost 3% today as the brownfield developer posted a bumper 40% jump in first half profits on the back of improved property valuation.

Pre-tax profit for the half year to 31 May 2011 came in at 拢37.4m, well above the 拢26.7m it made in the same period a year earlier.

The jump in profits was largely attributable to valuation gains of around 拢25m, up from 拢15.1m a year ago, which leaves the developer with a portfolio worth around 拢1.1bn.

Net rental income rose 2% to 拢17.8m, against 拢17.4m in 2010.

St Modwen acquires brownfield sites and prepares them for commercial and residential schemes by getting planning permissions and carrying out remediation work.

Chairman Bill Oliver said: 鈥淲e have achieved very strong results for the first half of the year in markets that continue to present challenges. We are also seeing an increase in demand for developable residential land and we continue to progress our residential development programme both in-house and through joint ventures.鈥�

He added: 鈥淚ncreasingly, we are now turning our attention to growing our development pipeline.This will be achieved both by bringing forward new developments from our existing landbank and through the acquisition of new opportunities.鈥�