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Profits up to £316m at British Land as new London office developments fuel growth

Nationwide property development firm British Land has posted strong full year results to the London Stock Exchange this morning, as profits touched £316m for the year ending 31 March.

The figures served to also underline the importance of capital’s booming office market to the London-headquartered property firm, with three developments accounting for 70% of its office assets.

The 13 acre Regent’s Place development in the borough of Camden, Broadgate at 100 Liverpool Street and Paddington Central, which between them host a number of big global companies including Facebook, Visa and Microsoft, all helped fuel a 11.8% uplift in British Land’s office and residential portfolio valuation.

In total, the real estate investment trust has funneled £280m of investment into its London campuses, along with the £210m acquisition of One Sheldon Square at Paddington Central, in the past year as it has attempted to consolidate its position at the forefront of some of the city’s biggest office developments.

It comes as London’s office sector is booming with rental growth outstripping every other major city in the world, and new multi-use developments continuing to pop up around the capital.

Chris Grigg, Chief Executive commented: “We have delivered another strong set of results with performance underpinned by strengthening rental growth across our business.

“We are focusing the business around long term trends and continue to see the benefits of the investments we have made in recent years.

“While we are mindful of the impact of market uncertainty, our high quality portfolio, flexible development pipeline and robust financial position continue to mean that our business is both resilient and well placed for the long term.”

Looking ahead, British Land has earmarked further developments and investments in London’s office sector with planning granted for 823,000 sq ft of redevelopment at 100 Liverpool Street and 1 Finsbury Avenue, while plans for a new 32-storey tower at 2-3 Finsbury Avenue is currently awaiting planning permission.

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