Half Year Results for the Six Months Ended 30 September 2019
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News Release The British Land Company PLC Half year results for the six months ended 30 September 2019 13 November 2019 1 The British Land Company PLC Half Year Results 13 November 2019 Chris Grigg, Chief Executive said: “Our operational performance has been good and we made further progress on our mixed use strategy, including a resolution to grant planning for a new urban centre at Canada Water in London. We continue to deliver space that our customers want, with 1.3m sq ft of leasing activity across existing and new space, so occupancy remains high at 97% and developments are now 87% pre let or under offer generating £63m of rent when fully let. In a tough market, we have capitalised on opportunities to make retail sales, disposing of £236m of assets ahead of book value. Looking forward, we expect our markets to remain uneven, but we have kept debt levels low, our balance sheet is strong and flexible and we have a broad spread of expertise across our business. We expect retail to remain challenging, so we’ll focus on driving operational performance and maintaining occupancy. We see early signs that some liquidity may be returning to parts of the market, and our focus will remain on thoughtfully progressing our strategy to reduce exposure. In London, we expect the market to remain good, with supply relatively constrained and high quality space, in well-connected, vibrant parts of town continuing to attract demand from a range of businesses. These dynamics are highly supportive of our Campus approach.” Financial summary • Financial performance • Underlying EPS down 6.4% to 16.1p following £1.2bn of income producing sales since April 2018, partially mitigated by buybacks contributing 0.5p • Development programme will add 4.6p to annualised EPS when fully let • Portfolio value down 4.3%; Retail down 10.7%, Offices up 0.4% and developments up 4.6% • EPRA NAV down 5.4% at 856p due to valuation declines, with buybacks contributing positive 8p • Half year dividend up 3.0% at 15.97p; total accounting return -3.7% • Strong and flexible balance sheet • £289m of asset sales, including £194m superstore portfolio, overall ahead of book value • £125m share buyback completed, bringing cumulative buyback to £625m since July 2017 • Maintained low LTV at 30.8% (March 2019: 28.1%), weighted average interest rate reduced to 2.7% Progress on strategy: Becoming the specialist in mixed use • Campus-focused London Offices: A compelling, customer-focused offer • 671,000 sq ft of leasing activity representing £29m of headline rents; 97% occupancy • Under offer on a further 74,000 sq ft and in negotiations on a further 242,000 sq ft • Lettings and renewals on the investment portfolio overall 11% ahead of ERV • Committed developments 87% pre-let/under offer, generating £63m of future rent when fully let • Significant future optionality within the portfolio. 2.1m sq ft near and medium term development pipeline, including Norton Folgate, where enabling works have commenced • Storey operational across 297,000 sq ft; further 91,700 sq ft identified • Smaller, more focused Retail: Driving operational outperformance in a challenging market • 605,000 sq ft of leasing activity; 1% ahead of passing rents; 96% occupancy • Significantly outperforming benchmarks: footfall 440 bps ahead; LFL sales 420 bps ahead • £236m off-strategy assets sold since April 2019, 6% ahead of book value • Two thirds of store vacancies since April 2017 following CVA or administration are either re-let, under offer or in negotiations • Secured resolution to grant planning for our Canada Water Masterplan: valuation up 12% • 53 acre mixed use regeneration scheme including plans for 3,000 homes • Headlease drawdown expected Spring 2020 • Continued strong performance on Sustainability benchmarks • GRESB 4* and awarded a green star rating for the 10th consecutive year • AAA MSCI rating, ranking within the top 9% overall 2 Summary Income statement HY 2018/19 HY 2019/20 Change Income statement Underlying earnings per share 2 17.2p 16.1p (6.4)% Underlying Profit £169m £152m (10.1)% IFRS profit/(loss) after tax £(48)m £(404)m IFRS basic earnings per share (4.9)p (42.9)p Dividend per share 15.50p 15.97p 3.0% Total accounting return ² (1.3)% (3.7)% Balance sheet 31 Mar 2019 30 Sept 2019 Portfolio at valuation (proportionally consolidated) £12,316m £11,723m (4.3)%1 EPRA Net Asset Value per share² 905p 856p (5.4)% IFRS net assets £8,689m £7,971m Loan to value ratio (proportionally consolidated) 28.1% 30.8% Operational Statistics HY 2018/19 HY 2019/20 Lettings and renewals 0.9m sq ft 1.3m sq ft Gross investment activity £1.1bn £0.5bn Committed and recently completed development 1.6m sq ft 1.6m sq ft Sustainability Performance MSCI ESG AAA rating AAA rating GRESB 4* and Green Star 4* and Green Star 1 Valuation movement during the period (after taking account of capex) of properties held at the balance sheet date, including developments (classified by end use), purchases and sales 2 See Note 2 to the condensed interim set of financial statements Results Presentation Conference Call A presentation of the results will be broadcast via conference call and slides to accompany the call will be displayed along with a live audio broadcast via the website (Britishland.com) at 8.30am on 13 November 2019. The details for the conference call and weblink are as follows: UK Toll Free Number: 0808 109 0700 Password: British Land Click for access: Audio weblink A dial in replay will be available later in the day for 7 days. The details are as follows: Replay number: 020 8196 1998 Passcode: 0248302 The accompanying slides will be made available at britishland.com just prior to the event starting. For Information Contact Investor Relations David Walker, British Land 020 7486 4466 Media Claire Scicluna, British Land 07469 855 603 Guy Lamming/Gordon Simpson, Finsbury 020 7251 3801 3 CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REVIEW Our operational performance has been good, and we have made further progress with our mixed use strategy, including a resolution to grant planning for a new urban centre at Canada Water. We continue to deliver space that our customers want, with 1.3m sq ft of leasing across existing and new space, so occupancy remains high at 97%. In a tough market, we continue to capitalise on opportunities to make retail sales, disposing of £236m of assets ahead of book value. Leasing & Operational Performance Our campus strategy is really resonating with businesses and their employees alike and with occupancy of 97% across our London campuses and 96% in retail, our portfolio remains effectively full. In London, we signed 671,000 sq ft of lettings and renewals. Our developments are now 87% pre-let or under offer, securing £55m pa of future rental income. We are also successfully repurposing existing space to appeal to a broader range of occupier, with lettings to tech companies at Broadgate and Regent’s Place respectively (post period end) including Monzo and a renewal to Visa, our biggest occupier at Paddington. Overall, offices values were up 0.4%. We are committed to ensuring our offer meets the needs of a broad range of occupiers. In London, office customers can choose from a range of product, varied in terms of fit out, flexibility and price. Importantly, customers can tailor their requirements across these products depending on their specific need, as well as change their requirements over time as their businesses evolve. Storey Club, which provides high quality ad hoc meeting and events space is now fully operational at Paddington and we will soon launch our second standalone Storey building in Haggerston. The breadth of this customer offer, underpinned by our campuses, is key to our leasing success. The retail market remained tough, and we saw this reflected in valuations which were down 10.7%. However, our portfolio delivered positive like for like retailer sales with footfall flat, compared to a market where both metrics were negative. Long term deals were on average 15% ahead of previous passing rent, but we have been pragmatic in our approach, to keep occupancy high and support operational performance. Shorter-term deals are often an effective way to secure a new occupier for space which has become vacant unexpectedly through a CVA or administration. More generally, this trend towards more flexible leasing is reflective of the broader market as occupiers seek seasonal or pop-up sites in different locations on a shorter term basis. We continue to be proactive in our response to CVAs: Over two thirds of store closures since April 2017 are either re-let, under offer or in negotiations. Overall, leasing was 1% ahead of previous passing rent excluding rates mitigation deals and assets being readied for development. At Canada Water, our valuation increased 12.4% after Southwark Council’s Planning Committee unanimously supported our masterplan. This means we have a resolution to grant outline planning permission for our 53-acre mixed use scheme, including detailed permission on the first three buildings. This is a major milestone for our process and is the culmination of five years masterplanning and engagement with the local community, including over 120 public consultations attracting more than 5,000 people. The next key milestone will be the drawdown of the headlease, which we are hopeful will happen in Spring 2020 meaning the earliest possible start on site would be mid-next year. Capital Allocation & Investments We have a clear and consistent strategy to build an increasingly mixed use business, focused on three core areas. As part of this, we plan to reduce retail to 30-35% of our portfolio over the medium term and we made further progress with the sale of 12 Sainsbury superstores for £429m (our share £194m).