Recent events and news
British Land Co PLC
31 July 2002
This is the text of a document being sent out to British Land shareholders
today:
31 July 2002
Dear Fellow Shareholder,
RECENT EVENTS AT BRITISH LAND
I am writing to update you on the matters dealt with at our recent Annual
General Meeting, together with other recent corporate and property news at
British Land.
The result of the poll taken at the AGM confirmed our Shareholders' confidence
in your Board, as all resolutions proposed by the Board were duly passed.
Excluding the votes cast by Laxey, the extent of the support on the three
resolutions proposed by Laxey (which were not supported by the Board) is well
shown by the following table:
Number Resolution Votes for As % of issued
(excluding Laxey) share capital
14 To urge by Ordinary Resolution the directors to 17,377,109 3.4%
formulate proposals under which shareholders may
tender shares for repurchase and cancellation for
up to 10% of the Company's issued share capital
for not less than £7 per share.
15 To urge by Ordinary Resolution the directors to 16,464,695 3.2%
formulate proposals under which the Company would
conditionally invite all ordinary shareholders to
tender their shares for repurchase and
cancellation on a twice yearly basis at a price of
90% of the diluted net asset value per share.
16 To urge by Ordinary Resolution the directors to 14,441,113 2.8%
formulate proposals under which the Company would
place a substantial proportion of its long term
investment assets under management by professional
property managers.
Now I would like to bring you up to date with other recent news.
Since the start of our current financial year on 1 April 2002, contracts have
been exchanged or completed on over £250 million of property sales, in excess of
valuation. That means that in the past sixteen months total sales, including
sales in joint ventures, exceed £820 million, a clear demonstration of our
insistence on scrutinising the portfolio for properties that no longer offer
growth opportunities.
We have just completed the purchase for £40.25 million of the half we did not
already own of Broadgate Phase 12 Limited, the company which is undertaking the
proposed development of 201 Bishopsgate, Broadgate, London EC2. An additional
planning application has been made to expand the size of the building we intend
to construct there. We expect this purchase to generate a considerable surplus
for Shareholders following completion of the development.
We have also bought the Meadowbank Retail Park in Edinburgh for £30 million.
This adds to our retail park portfolio a property offering significant prospects
of higher rents.
At the year end in March, we reported the rent review due in respect of 175
Bishopsgate, where the tenant is the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development occupying 361,000 sq ft, settled at £52.50 per sq ft, an increase of
32%.
Since then we have settled the two remaining rent reviews due at Broadgate on 25
December 2001 with Lehman Brothers and Hendersons at rents consistent with or in
excess of the rate per sq ft agreed with EBRD. The buildings that were subject
to review were 1&2 Broadgate and 4 Broadgate and comprise a total net internal
office area of 468,000 sq ft -circa 14.5% of the total office stock at
Broadgate. The total uplifts in net rent receivable are £3.96 million pa and
£2.7 million pa respectively -some £6.7 million pa in total and a rise of circa
40% overall.
Including the EBRD settlement, we have thus settled reviews on a total of
829,000 sq ft net office space -equivalent to 25% of the total office stock at
Broadgate -since January, with a total uplift in rents of £11.2 million pa. All
the settlements are marginally in excess of our independent valuer's estimated
outcomes for each review.
We have secured a resolution from the City Corporation to grant planning consent
for a major new building at 51 Lime Street, London, EC3, in conjunction with
Stanhope pIc. Designed by Foster & Partners the new building will provide
532,735 sq ft of office and ancillary accommodation and 6,609 sq ft of retail,
compared to the 200,000 sq ft size of the old building.
We are pleased to obtain this resolution which followed close consultation with
the City Corporation. We will now carefully consider the programme for carrying
out the development, in line with market conditions and occupier demand.
On a quite different subject we were particularly pleased to win no less than
three first prizes at the Investor Relations Magazine 2002 Awards for:
-Best Board Communications (for FTSE 100 companies)
-Most Progress in Investor Relations (for FTSE 100 companies)
-Best Investor Relations in the Real Estate sector.
Finally, I am setting out the brief statement I made at the Annual General
Meeting concerning the evolution of the Board.
"There is one further matter on which I wish to elaborate, amplifying the
statements you will have seen in our letter to Shareholders of 14 June 2002,
concerning the evolution of the Board.
In this letter it was stated that the nonexecutive directors of the Company have
orderly succession planning and continuity as one of their responsibilities. It
was also explained that we intend to appoint additional nonexecutive directors.
We have appointed recruitment consultants and the search for candidates is under
way.
British Land wishes to make clear that as part of the process referred to above,
the Board intends to move towards splitting the Chairman and Chief Executive
roles based on an orderly timetable which allows for planning and continuity.
The additional independent directors will be appointed as soon as possible and
by 31 March 2003 there will be an independent additional Deputy Chairman. It is
expected that one of the independent members of the expanded Board will become
Chairman in due course."
I would like to thank Shareholders for their support of the Board's position on
all the resolutions proposed at the AGM. With your continued support, we are
entirely confident of our ability to continue to deliver excellent returns to
all Shareholders in the years ahead.
Yours faithfully,
John Ritblat
Chairman
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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