British Land has reported a record annual loss as its properties slumped in value.
The net loss for the 12 months ended 31 March widened to £3.88bn pounds, or 614 pence a share, from £1.56bn, or 251 pence, a year earlier. British Land was projected to have a loss of £2.96bn, according to the median estimate of 5 analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
British Land raised £740m in a rights offer in March after its balance sheet was battered by falling real estate values in the global financial crisis. The company sold half of its largest shopping center, the Meadowhall mall near Sheffield, in the previous month.
More than half of British Land’s properties are retail warehouses and malls, and the rest are office buildings. Most of the offices are in the City of London, where rents are forecast to fall back to 1991 levels by the end of this year, according to analysts at King Sturge.
bloomberg.com
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