British Land boosts outlook after strong year

(Sharecast News) - British Land boosted annual guidance on Tuesday, after a strong end to the year saw earnings come in ahead of forecasts. Updating on year-end trading, the commercial landlord - which owns a £15.2bn portfolio of London campuses and retail parks - said underlying earnings per share in the year to 31 March were set to come in at 28.9p, with like-for-like net rental growth of 6%.

Boosted by "particularly strong" fourth-quarter leasing, both figures were ahead of expectations.

Simon Carter, chief executive, said the figures reflected "our market-leading position in campuses and retail parks, where availability for high-quality space in the right locations is near record lows, and occupational fundamentals continue to strengthen, despite ongoing macroeconomic volatility.

"With continued momentum across the portfolio, including particularly strong fourth quarter leasing, and the earnings accretive acquisition of Life Science Reit completing [on Monday], we are confident in our earnings growth outlook for the 2027 full year and beyond."

Looking to the current year, British Land now expects underlying EPS of at least 30.5p, up from previous guidance for 30.2p. It also reiterated medium-term guidance for EPS growth of between 3% and 6%.

As at 1000 BST, the shares were up 2% at 404.5p.

Berenberg, which has a 'buy' rating on the stock, said: "Strong occupational fundamentals continue to underpin rental growth and valuations: this operational update points to a robust year, with 3.8m sq ft of leasing completed, 7.2% ahead of estimated rental value, underpinned by solid like-for-like net rental growth."

British Land is due to publish full-year numbers on 20 May.

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