FINANCE: A buoyant London office market has boosted British Land’s net asset value by 11.8%.
In the half year to 30 September the REIT posted a EPRA NAV per share of 769p, compared with 688p in the same half in 2013.
During the same period, underlying pretax profit rose to £155m from £146m, while the value of the property portfolio increased 7.2% to £12.8bn.
Chris Grigg, chief executive of British Land, said: “Demand for offices in London is improving, supply remains constrained and rental growth now looks firmly established. In retail, economic growth is feeding through to consumer spend and the lead indicators of rental growth in our business are all positive.”
Lettings in the firm’s 7.9m sq ft office portfolio during the half year totalled 507,000 sq ft. A further 188,000 sq ft is under offer.
The REIT said it was now positioned to progress its office pipeline. It expected to commit to 4 Kingdom Street, W2, in the coming months, and would shortly submit a planning application for a development at Blossom Street in Shoreditch, E1.
Grigg added: “Looking forward, we remain confident about the outlook for the business.”
British Land will pay a half-year dividend of 13.8p per share.
