REG - British Land Co PLC - Final Results

British LandAnnouncement

20/05/2026 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
https://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20260520:nRST9898Ea&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 9898E  British Land Co PLC  20 May 2026

The British Land Company PLC

 

20 May 2026

 

Record leasing driving performance and earnings outlook

 

Simon Carter, Chief Executive said:

"A record year of leasing has driven strong ERV growth, like-for-like net
rental growth and an attractive earnings outlook. We are benefiting from our
leading positions in campuses and retail parks, where demand is growing and
supply remains constrained. Our offer is clearly resonating with customers: we
have around a 5% share of the London office market, but accounted for 15% of
reported leasing activity last year, rising to 33% in the fourth quarter.

While the geopolitical and interest rate backdrop has become more uncertain,
the occupational fundamentals underpinning our portfolio are as strong as I
have seen them. Central London office net take-up is at its highest level in
20 years and our retail parks are 99% occupied.

In these tightening markets, we are well positioned to capitalise on our
scale, quality and value-add mindset to deliver sustainable EPS growth of 3-6%
per annum and total returns of 8-10% across the cycle."

Financial

•    Underlying Profit £294m, up 5% (FY25: £279m)

•    Underlying earnings per share (EPS) 28.9p, up 1% (FY25: 28.5p)

•    Dividend per share 23.12p, up 1% (FY25: 22.80p)

•    EPRA cost ratio 18.9% (FY25: 17.5%)

•    Total property return +7.4% and total accounting return +8.1%

operational metrics

•    Portfolio occupancy 96.9%(1): Campuses 94.7%(1), Retail & London
Urban Logistics 99.0%(1)

•    Leased 3.8m sq ft, 7.2% ahead of ERV with 1.1m sq ft under offer,
12.9% ahead of ERV

•    Campus leasing: 1.7m sq ft (a record £143m secured(2)), 6.3% ahead
of ERV, which accelerated in Q4 with 0.8m sq ft of deals, c.50% of the total

•    295k sq ft under offer in Campuses, 17.0% ahead of ERV, with a
further 228k sq ft under offer in the six weeks post year end with viewing
levels elevated

•    Retail & London Urban Logistics leasing: 2.1m sq ft, 8.4% ahead
of ERV and 0.8m sq ft under offer, 10.3% ahead of ERV

•    Retail park leasing ahead of previous passing rent, which
accelerated in H2 with deals 6.3% ahead

•    Like-for-like net rental growth +6%: Campuses +12%(3), Retail &
London Urban Logistics +2%

1 Occupancy excludes developments completed in the previous 12 months

2 Headline rents (shown at 100%)

3 Excluding Storey

Portfolio VALUATION

•    Values up 2.3%: Campuses +2.0%, Retail & London Urban Logistics
+2.7%

•    ERV growth 4.9%: Campuses 6.5%, Retail & London Urban Logistics
3.6%

•    Net equivalent yield -4 bps to 6.0%: Campuses -4 bps to 5.6%, Retail
& London Urban Logistics -4 bps to 6.6%

Balance sheet

•    EPRA Net Tangible Assets per share 590p, up 4%

•    LTV 39.2% (FY25: 38.1%)

•    Group Net Debt to EBITDA 7.7x (FY25: 8.0x)

•    £3.1bn of financing activity, including £2.0bn new finance raised

•    £1.6bn undrawn facilities and cash, with no requirement to
refinance until early 2029

•    Fitch Senior Unsecured credit rating at 'A' with stable outlook
(affirmed February 2026)

CAPITAL ACTIVITY

•    £106m of assets disposed at an average of 4% above book value, and
at 2.9% NIY

•    Exchanged or under offer on £176m of asset disposals post year end

•    £94m of retail acquired, principally three retail parks, at 7.2%
Topped Up NIY

•    Life Science REIT acquisition effective 20 April 2026, funded
through issuing 24.5m new shares and £49m cash

•    Progressing 1.6m sq ft committed development pipeline on a
de-risked, capital light basis

Sustainability

•    GRESB rating of 5* for both standing investments and developments,
achieving our best scores across both measures

•    75% of the portfolio rated EPC A or B, up from 68% at FY25

Outlook

•    Expect FY27 EPS of at least 30.5p, underpinned by like-for-like net
rental growth at the top end of our 3-5% range

•    Expect 3-6% per annum EPS growth in subsequent years

•  Reiterating guidance of 3-5% per annum ERV growth across the portfolio

 

Summary performance

 Year ended                                            31 March    31 March    % Change

2026

                                                                   2025
 INCOME STATEMENT
 Underlying Profit(1)                                  £294m       £279m       5%
 Underlying earnings per share(1)                      28.9p       28.5p       1%
 IFRS profit after tax                                 £454m       £338m
 IFRS basic earnings per share                         45.4p       35.1p
 Dividend per share                                    23.12p      22.80p      1%
 Total accounting return(1)                            8.1%        5.0%

 As at                                                 31 March    31 March

2026
2025
 BALANCE SHEET
 Portfolio at valuation (proportionally consolidated)  £10,062m    £9,486m     2.3% (2)
 EPRA Net Tangible Assets per share(1)                 590p        567p        4%
 IFRS net assets                                       £5,932m     £5,710m
 Net Debt to EBITDA (Group)(3, 4)                      7.7x        8.0x
 Loan to value (proportionally consolidated)(4, 5)     39.2%       38.1%
 Fitch Senior Unsecured credit rating                  A           A

 Year ended                                            31 March    31 March

2026

                                                                   2025
 OPERATIONAL STATISTICS
 Lettings and renewals over 1 year                     3.4m sq ft  2.8m sq ft
 Total lettings and renewals                           3.8m sq ft  3.3m sq ft
 Committed and recently completed developments         2.9m sq ft  3.3m sq ft
 SUSTAINABILITY PERFORMANCE
 MSCI ESG                                              AAA rating  AAA rating
 GRESB (standing investments / developments)           5* / 5*     5* / 5*

 

1. See Note 2 to the condensed financial statements for definition and
calculation.

2. Valuation movement during the year (after taking account of capex) of
properties held at the balance sheet date including developments (classified
by end use), purchases and sales.

3. Net Debt to EBITDA on a Group basis excludes joint venture borrowings and
includes distributions and other receivables from joint ventures.

4. See Note 8 to the condensed financial statements for definition,
calculation and reference to IFRS metrics.

5. EPRA Loan to value is disclosed in Table E of the condensed financial
statements.

 

Dividends

Our dividend is semi-annual, and in line with our dividend policy, is
calculated at 80% of Underlying EPS based on the most recently completed
six-month period. Applying this policy, the Board are proposing a final
dividend for the year ended 31 March 2026 of 10.80p per share, bringing the
total dividend to 23.12p per share for the year. Payment will be made on
Friday 24 July 2026 to shareholders on the register at close of business on
Friday 19 June 2026. 9.34p will be payable as a Property Income Distribution
and 1.46p will be payable as a non-Property Income Distribution. A Dividend
Reinvestment Plan (DRIP) is provided by Equiniti Financial Services Limited,
which enables the Company's shareholders to elect to have their cash dividend
payments used to purchase the Company's shares. More information can be found
at www.shareview.co.uk/info/drip
(https://eq.shareview.co.uk/shareholderservices/dividendreinvestments/) .

 

BOARD changes

The following changes to our Board will take effect from the conclusion of our
2026 AGM. Lynn Gladden will step down as a Non-Executive Director. Lynn's
expertise within the science & technology sector has been invaluable to
the Board in recent years as the Company developed our presence in this
important sector. Loraine Woodhouse will step down as Chair of the Audit
Committee but remain a member, with Amanda James appointed as her successor.
Loraine has made a significant contribution during her time as Chair of the
Audit Committee.

 

Full unedited text

In accordance with DTR 6.3.5 (1A), the full unedited final results for the
year ended 31 March 2026 will shortly be available to download from the
National Storage Mechanism. A copy is also available on the Company's website:
https://www.britishland.com/news/full-year-results-2026
(https://www.britishland.com/news/full-year-results-2026) and
here: http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/9898E_1-2026-5-19.pdf
(http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/9898E_1-2026-5-19.pdf)

Results Presentation and Investor WEBCAST

A presentation of the results will take place at 9am on Wednesday 20 May 2026
at Peel Hunt, 100 Liverpool Street, Broadgate, London, EC2M 2AT and will be
broadcast live via webcast which can be accessed via the following link:

Click for access:                  Webcast link
(https://stream.brrmedia.co.uk/broadcast/6980bb8a4001ac0013f24662)

A replay and accompanying slides will be made available at Britishland.com

For Information Contact

Investors

Jonty McNuff, British Land
07931 684 272

 

Media

Charlotte Whitley, British Land
07887 802 535

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  FR AKCBNKBKBCPD



            Copyright 2019 Regulatory News Service, all rights reserved