Strong results at British Land as property recovery gathers pace

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British Land posted a 12.5 per cent increase in net asset values yesterday, a key indicator of the health of property companies, although analysts said the results were not as strong as the recent update from its FTSE 100 peer Land Securities.

British Land's net asset value rose to 567p per share, against 504p last year, while underlying pre-tax profits for the year were up about 3 per cent at £256m.

The group is waiting to hear this week whether parts of the City of London's Broadgate estate, which is earmarked to be redeveloped for the new headquarters for the Swiss bank UBS, will be recommended for listed status by English Heritage.

The company also posted a strong outlook statement, saying that the "underlying demand dynamics" in its markets were set to remain positive.

But Harm Meijer, an analyst at JP Morgan Cazenove, said that while the British Land results were strong, they were "not as strong as Land Securities' full-year results" last week.