Lend Lease shares increased by more than five per cent after the company announced that it expects to post a modest rise in operating profit for its 2011/12 financial year.
The developer announced that it was on track to achieve an operating profit after tax of between $485 million and $505 million for the year to June 30, 2012.
The result excludes any profits from the Barangaroo South development in Sydney's CBD.
Lend Lease posted an operating profit after tax of $485.3 million in the year to June 30, 2011.
The news caused Lend Lease shares to rise 38 cents, or 5.28 per cent, to $7.58 at 1405 AEST.
Australian Stock Report head of research Geoff Saffer said the operating profit was higher than analysts expected, causing the favourable response by the market.
"Market had expectations of about $450 million so it's quite a bit stronger than what the market was expecting," he said.
It's flat to five per cent higher than what they announced last year and about 10 per cent higher than what many analysts had been expecting."
Lend Lease chief executive Steve McCann said the result would be aided by the successful integration of the infrastructure business during the 2011/12 financial year.
"We are very pleased with a strong expected result in such a difficult market environment," he said in a statement.
Mr McCann said Lend Lease continued to recycle capital from its property assets and non-core businesses to invest in higher yielding opportunities.
Lend Lease shares closed at $7.20 on Friday.
