Interim Results - Highlights
British Land Co PLC
30 November 2000
THE BRITISH LAND COMPANY PLC
INTERIM RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS TO 30TH SEPTEMBER 2000
NET ASSET VALUE per share for the six months increased 5.4% to 731 pence
(31 March 2000 - 694 pence per share).
FULLY DILUTED NET ASSET VALUE per share rose by 4.7% to 713 pence (31 March
2000 - 681 pence per share).
VALUATION UPLIFT for the six months, including share of joint ventures, was
1.8% (after adjustment for purchases, properties awaiting development, sales
and other expenditures).
HALF-YEAR PRE-TAX PROFITS were £83.5 million (1999 - £97.4 million of which
property trading profits contributed £41.9 million).
RENTS
British Land only:
Gross Rents rose by 10% to £190.1 million (1999 - £172.8 million)
Net Rents were £180.1 million, up 11.7% (1999 - £161.3 million) primarily
reflecting the impact of Meadowhall together with rent reviews.
British Land including share of Joint Ventures:
Gross Rents were £228.3 million, up 9.7% (1999 - £208.1 million)
Net Rents were £215.8 million, up 10.7% (1999 - £194.9 million).
TAX CHARGE was £17.0 million, a rate of 20.4% (1999 - £18.1 million, a rate
of 18.6%).
PROFITS AFTER TAX were £66.5 million (1999 - £79.3 million).
EARNINGS PER SHARE were 12.8 pence (1999 - 15.3 pence).
INTERIM DIVIDEND is up 5.9% to 3.6 pence (1999 - 3.4 pence).
TOTAL RETURN for the six months of 5.9% reflecting the increase of 5.4% in
net asset value together with the interim dividend of 3.6 pence per share.
CURRENT NET YIELD is 6.1% (31 March 2000 - 5.9%).
REVERSIONARY NET YIELD is 7.5% (31 March 2000 - 7.1%). REVERSIONARY INCOME
of over £106 million (31 March 2000 - £90 million).
ANNUALISED NET RENTS £472.6 million (31 March 2000 - £462.5 million) after
allowing for the 50% reduction in income from the formation of the BL West
joint venture.
WEIGHTED AVERAGE LEASE LENGTH 19.5 years (31 March 2000 - 19.9 years) 86%
of current income is secured beyond September 2010.
FINANCING
NET DEBT reduced to £3,568.8 million (31 March 2000 - £3,762.3 million) of
which 89% is at fixed rates, 6% capped and 5% at variable rates.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BOOK AND MARKET VALUES of debt (net of tax relief) reduced
to £90.6 million equating to 17.5 pence per share (31 March 2000 -
£125.2 million, 24.2 pence per share).
WEIGHTED AVERAGE INTEREST RATE 7.02% (reduced from 7.05%).
WEIGHTED AVERAGE DEBT MATURITY 17.6 years (31 March 2000 - 18.4 years).
UNUSED BANK FACILITIES AND CASH of £1.5 billion.
FINANCING HIGHLIGHTS
- £300 million five year revolving credit syndicated by Barclays Bank PLC.
- £265 million non-recourse loan for BL West, underwritten by WestLB.
- After 30th September 2000, the 135 Bishopsgate Securitisation 2018 was
rearranged so that it is secured only to the extent of £8.9 million. The
unsecured element is £124.1 million. Previously it was all secured.
PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT
Six months to Six months to
30 September 2000 30 September 1999
----------------- -----------------
Gross rental income
- including share of JVs £228.3m £208.1m
Net rental income - Group £180.1m £161.3m
Profits on property trading £1.9m £41.9m
Other income* £23.9m £2.8m
Net interest payable £154.8m £128.4m
Profit before taxation £83.5m £97.4m
Earnings per share 12.8p 15.3p
Interim dividend per share 3.6p 3.4p
* Includes Liberty International compensation of £15.3 million net of costs.
Property management costs account for only 5.5% of gross rents (including
share of joint ventures).
BALANCE SHEET
30 September 2000 31 March 2000
----------------- -----------------
Total properties £8,237.4m £8,210.0m
Net assets £3,788.1m £3,593.5m
Net asset value per share 731p 694p
Net asset value per share (fully diluted) 713p 681p
Debt/equity - Group financial gearing 94% 105%
Debt/equity including JVs - Operational gearing 113% 122%
Including external valuation surplus on development and trading properties
PORTFOLIO VALUATION (including share of joint ventures)
£m Total% Valuation uplift %
------- ------ ----------------
Offices City 2,917.3 35.4 5.2
West End 451.6 5.5 2.4
Other 194.2 2.4 2.2
All offices 3,563.1 43.3 4.7
Retail Shops 459.8 5.6 (2.7)
Retail warehouses 527.4 6.4 0.6
Supermarkets 983.8 11.9 (1.3)
Shopping centres 1,773.8 21.5 (0.4)
All retail 3,744.8 45.4 (0.8)
Industrial & Distribution 88.9 1.1 1.4
Leisure and other 289.7 3.5 (0.6)
Residential 53.7 0.7 4.3
Development 497.2 6.0 3.2
------- ------ ----------------
Total 8,237.4 100.0 1.8
======= ====== ================
PORTFOLIO VALUATION (continued)
Of the valuation uplift:
- Broadgate is up 5.7%.
- Regent's Place is up 4.6%.
- Meadowhall's value was unchanged.
GROUP PORTFOLIO ACTIVITY
Sales: £407.4 million
Purchases: £58.3 million
Development expenditure: £50.4 million
TRANSACTION HIGHLIGHTS
- Capital realisations of £307.5 million through the sale of four City of
London properties to a new joint venture with WestLB.
- Expansion of interests in the vicinity of Broadgate with the purchase of the
freehold interests of Broadgate House and Eldon House for £27.5 million.
- Creation of a consortium to provide tenants with high speed data access. In
addition to British Land, the consortium includes Canary Wharf, Legal &
General, Norwich Union and Prudential.
JOINT VENTURE ACTIVITY
TRANSACTION HIGHLIGHTS
- Formation of the new joint venture with WestLB.
- BL Universal has acquired the freehold interest in the Castle Vale Retail
Park, Birmingham, at a forward purchase price close to £50 million and has
also purchased a Sainsbury superstore in New Cross, London.
- BL Fraser has agreed to buy the Bentalls department store in Bristol for
£15.6 million.
Further analysis of the property portfolio is provided on our web site at
www.britishland.co.uk
DEVELOPMENT
The development programme, including joint ventures and involving a £1.2
billion spend on construction alone, continues to make substantial progress.
The Abbey National's attractive new 196,000 sq ft head office at Regent's
Place has been topped out. Work is well advanced also on the adjacent 130,000
sq ft office building which we are developing to rent.
At Blythe Valley Park, Solihull, the development of a 1.2 million sq ft
Business Park with joint venture partner ProLogis is progressing well. A
further 403,000 sq ft of buildings are under construction. Almost 85% of this
space has been pre-let.
DEVELOPMENT (continued)
At our development on the 420 acre site south of Dublin at Cherrywood,
construction of three buildings of 124,500 sq ft is under way.
The Company is developing a 220,000 sq ft distribution unit pre-let to Royal
Mail at its Heathrow Gateway site at Feltham.
At East Kilbride, the Company has concluded a letting to Debenhams for a
110,000 sq ft anchor department store.
Extracts from the Interim Statement by Mr. John Ritblat, Chairman
'Real tangible assets may lack the ephemeral and suspect excitement of
virtuality but they earn a good lasting return with growth. These are
qualities which perceptive value investors are beginning to appreciate again.'
'Three elements provide the focus of British Land's £8.2 billion property
portfolio, interacting with our financing initiatives.
- £3.4 billion is invested in London offices, principally the Broadgate
Estate, where British Land's holdings extend to 3.75 million sq ft in 16
buildings on a 30 acre site. A dedicated management team provides economical
servicing at this premier location.
- £3.7 billion is invested in retailing, of which £1.8 billion is in shopping
centres with Meadowhall accounting for £1.28 billion. Retail warehousing and
supermarkets represent £1.5 billion.
- The remaining £1.1 billion incorporates development, and a strategic
diversification into leisure, industrial and provincial office properties.'
'Shareholders will be pleased that our Report and Accounts 2000 won the
Accountancy Age Award for Excellence, our disclosures being described as '- at
the forefront of best practice, and in particular the narrative statements of
the treasury policy and financial risk management and joint ventures are
considered to be sector leading and add clarity to the numerical
disclosures''.
Contacts
The British Land Company PLC:
John Ritblat, Chairman, telephone: 020 7467 2831/2829
John Weston Smith, Finance Director, telephone: 020 7467 2899
Bell Pottinger Financial Limited:
Kate Power, telephone: 020 7353 9203
Latest directors dealings
- 2 days ago City of London Investment Group
- 2 days ago Aberdeen Group plc
- 2 days ago NATWEST GROUP
- 2 days ago Ondo Insurtech
- 2 days ago Banco Santander S.A.