British Land (BLND) shares jumped 6% Monday morning as it announced half-year earnings amid renewed FTSE optimism.
The commercial property developer and investor reported a wider half-year loss and falling portfolio values. In fact, in the six months to September 30, pretax loss widened to £49 million from a restated £20 million a year prior.
This was not enough to dismay investors, however. British Land also raised its interim dividend and said it is benefiting from the focus areas it has chosen within the wider office, retail and logistics property sectors.
Revenue jumped 79% to £386 million from £216 million thanks to capital and other revenue of £174 million, versus no such revenue a year before. On an underlying basis, revenue edged down to £212 million from £216 million.
The pretax loss resulted primarily from negative valuation movement of £201 million, compared to negative £189 million a year before. At the same time, financing income plummeted to £10 million from £151 million, and operating costs increased to £100 million from £51 million.
The company was ejected from the FTSE 100 in June this year.
Net asset value per share as at September 30 declined 3.9% to 565p from 588p at March 31.
British Land said its portfolio values were down 2.5% in the recent half-year, with office campuses down 4.0%, but retail parks up 0.2% and London urban logistics up 0.6%.
British Land declared an interim dividend of 12.16 pence per share, up 4.8% from 11.60p a year prior.
The company said it now expects estimates rental value growth at the top end of its previous guidance for financial year 2024 ending March 31. It added that it was comfortable with current market expectations for financial 2024 earnings.
In May, it guided for estimated rental value growth of 2% to 4% across campuses, the same growth in retail parks and 4-5% ERV growth in London urban logistics. On Monday it increased its guidance for retail parks to 3-5%.
British Land’s share price peaked at 334p this morning and has since come down to 330p. This is up from 318p at open.
