British Land shares slid today after the company reported a loss after tax of nearly £1.1bn, while slashing £2bn off the value of its portfolio in the year ending March.
The FTSE 100 REIT’s shares were valued at 500p at the close, a 3.7% drop, as its portfolio value shrank by 10.8% to £9.1bn.
The value of its retail properties was down by 24.7%, while offices declined by 3.8%. During the year the landlord sold £556m of retail assets and £643m of stand-alone offices.
Chief financial officer David Walker told EG the company planned on targeting last-mile urban logistics opportunities within the M25 in future. “We think this is a newer, growing market,” he told EG.
U+I was among the day’s biggest property fallers, dropping by 3.1% to finish at 88.2p. The company suffered widening losses and a 15% drop in portfolio value last year, in what chief executive Richard Upton called a “hugely disappointing” performance.
Elsewhere, a number of property shares rose steeply across the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 indices, with UK Commercial Property REIT rising by 7.9% to 78p, Hammerson finishing 5.7% up at 37p and GCP Student gaining 4.1% to 162.4p. Housebuilder Persimmon rose by 2% to 3,127p.
That came as the FTSE 100 slipped despite a strong set of corporate earnings on a slow day for Europe’s markets. London’s blue-chip index fell by 0.1% over the course of the day to 7,026 points, a second straight session of losses after slipping to a stronger pound yesterday. Meanwhile, the mid-cap FTSE 250 advanced 0.9% to 22,640 points.
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