Uk property giant British Land has announced a £404 mln (€470 mln) pre-tax loss in the half year to the end of Q3, on the back of the retail sector’s woes.
The figure is an almost 10-fold increase on the same period in 2018, when the firm made a £48 mln (€56 mln) loss.
The landlord's net asset value also dropped by 5.4% in the past six months to 30 September, due to revaluation losses totalling 576 mln (€671 mln). The total value of the company's portfolio reduced to £11.72 bn (€13.6 bn), down from £12.3 bn (€14.3 bn) year-on-year.
Across the portfolio, British Land saw net rental income dive 8% to £267 mln (€311 mln). The company is being affected by a wave of wave of closures as retail tenants struggle with tough trading conditions and the challenge of online shopping.
Chris Grigg, CEO of British Land, said: ‘We expect retail to remain challenging, so we’ll focus on driving operational performance and maintaining occupancy.
‘In a tough market, we have capitalised on opportunities to make retail sales, disposing of £236m of assets ahead of book value.
‘We see early signs that some liquidity may be returning to parts of the market, and our focus will remain on thoughtfully progressing our strategy to reduce exposure.’
Despite the challenging figures, British Land has a full pipeline of developments, which has boomed this year to 7.3 mln sqf (678,192 m2), from 1.6 mln sqf (148,644 m2) last year. Projects include a 33,000 sqf (33,000 m2) office on the border of Lonon’s square mile and 3,000 residential units in Canada Water, close to the financial district of Canary Wharf.
