Kilpatrick Property Group, the Glasgow-based commercial property investment company, said yesterday it increased its net asset value by 16% for the year to March 31, 2008, bucking the gloomy trend in the sector.

The company also announced it has completed acquisitions of more than £8m since the beginning of 2008.

Commenting on Kilpatrick's financial performance, chief executive Maurice Glen said: "Market conditions over the course of the last year have changed significantly and while presenting new challenges, also provide opportunity."

He added: "The group's strict acquisition criteria, resulting in few new acquisitions being implemented at the top of the market over the last two years, is now likely to pay dividends, as we find ourselves well placed to implement new acquisitions taking advantage of softer market conditions. This should ensure that the group's pipeline of profit opportunities will be maintained over the medium term."

Among Kilpatrick's latest investments is the £2.05m purchase of more than 20,000 square feet of office and retail space in Liverpool's prime office area, Castle Street, from the Threadneedle group.

And in Falkirk, Kilpatrick also bought nine warehousing units, totalling 36,000 sq ft, forming Middlefield Trading Estate, for £1.87m from French-based insurer AXA.

Kilpatrick's Liverpool and Falkirk acquisitions follow recent transactions by the company in Peterhead, Blantyre and Rutherglen.

The company was established in 1994, employs five people and has assets in excess of £40m.

Elsewhere in the property sector, Applecross, the Scottish house builder, has reported a 19% increase in the value of sales in the last three months to the end of April 2008 compared with the same period last year.

The company reported sales for the three months to end April 2008 of £10.7m compared to £9m for the same period in 2007.

Applecross said the results provide evidence of continued confidence in house buying at the upper end of the Scottish housing market.