Landsec, the UK’s largest listed property company by assets, saw the value of its portfolio shed more than half a billion pounds in the year to March as a crisis in the retail sector cut into the value of its properties.
The company, formerly known as Land Securities, said its assets declined in value by £557m to £13.8bn, led by a 15.5 per cent drop in the value of its retail parks and an 11.7 per cent fall in the value of its shopping centres. The group’s assets had slid by £91m in the previous year.
The declining values led the group, whose assets include a stake in the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, to a £123m loss for the year, worse than the £42m loss a year earlier.
Revenue profit, a measure that excludes swings in property values, was up 8.9 per cent to £442m, however.
Robert Noel, chief executive, said the company was operating against a backdrop of “political gridlock and the well publicised difficulties in the retail market”. He added: “We’ve had a strong year operationally, maintaining high occupancy, expanding our development pipeline and delivering new products and services, including our Myo flexible [office] offer.”
He said the group was shifting its portfolio towards London, where all of its £3bn of development opportunities are based, and away from the UK regions.
The group increased its full-year dividend 3.1 per cent to 45.55p, a slimmer increase than in the previous three years.
