British Land's profit rises 3% to £256m

UK REIT British Land saw its profit rise 3% year-on-year to £256 mln in 2010, from £249 mln a year before.

In a statement to announce its full-year 2010 results on Monday, British Land said its net asset value increased by nearly 13% to 567 pence a share, while its portfolio valuation rose 6.9% to £9.6 bn in 2010, mostly as a result of strong lettings performance and developments.

'British Land has had a very active year, we have again outperformed the market and there is real momentum in the business,' said chief executive Chris Grigg. 'Our strong letting performance across our portfolio shows clearly that there is still demand from occupiers for the well-located prime retail and London office assets we provide and we expect this to continue.'

The REIT said it was committed to a £1.6 bn London development program with its partners, which would deliver 2.2 million sq ft of space by 2014.

Earlier this year the company received planning permission for the development of a new office complex for financial services firm UBS in the City of London, to be carried out in partnership with Blackstone. The complex will provide a total net office floor space of 66,890 m². Its pipeline also includes the Cheesegrater 47-storey office tower in the Square Mile, in the heart of the City's insurance district, as well as the Puerto Venecia shopping centre in Zaragoza, Spain.