British Land Company PLC

FY '26 underlying EPS rose 1% and underlying profit rose 5%. Like-for-like net rents grew 6%, adding 2.1p to EPS; Campus like-for-like growth was 12%, Retail growth was 2%, development leasing added 1.4p, admin cost savings and fee income added 0.8p, and higher finance costs reduced EPS by 3.4p. Portfolio values increased 2.3%, NTA per share rose 4% to 590p, and total accounting return was 8.1%. The Board proposed a final dividend of 10.8p, bringing the full-year payout to 23.12p, up 1%. For FY '27, management guided to at least 30.5p of EPS, or 6% growth versus FY '26. They expect like-for-like growth at the top end of the 3% to 5% range, around GBP 40 million of rents from development leasing completed over the last 18 months, a cost ratio around 17.5%, and further gradual finance cost pressure of 10 to 20 basis points at the top end of the range. The Life Science REIT acquisition was described as immediately earnings accretive, adding 0.3p to FY '27 EPS, with additional upside from leasing vacant space, especially at Oxford Technology Park.

Simon Geoffrey Carter emphasized that British Land is benefiting from strong occupational fundamentals in Campuses and Retail Parks, plus active asset management. He said the markets are tighter than in 2022, vacancy is lower, and the company expects to outperform inflation with 3% to 5% ERV growth. His tone was confident on demand, especially for science and tech, AI-related businesses, and well-located campus assets, while remaining selective on development and partner-led execution.

David Walker said FY '26 earnings came in ahead of his initial guidance, helped by 6% like-for-like net rent growth, 9% lower admin costs, stronger development leasing, and fee income, partially offset by higher finance costs and non-repeat provision benefits from last year. He highlighted leverage of 39.2% LTV, net debt-to-EBITDA of 7.7x, GBP 1.6 billion of liquidity, and no refinancing requirement until 2029, with an A stable Fitch rating. He also said the commercial paper program is back-to-back with RCFs, now about GBP 300 million to GBP 350 million and expected to rise to around GBP 400 million, with a margin benefit of 50 basis points plus versus the RCF, though at shorter duration.

Analysts focused on tenant credit risk, development economics, margin movement, retail valuation spreads, and capital allocation. Management said smaller science and tech tenants are usually protected by short leases, deposits, and fast reletting, while HQ tenants require stronger credit; on Anthropic specifically, Simon said the deal passed their tests despite being loss-making today. On margins, David said the shortfall versus last year reflected normalized provisions and void costs tied to timing of development lease-up, and he expects margins to improve as completed schemes fill; on Canada Water and Regent's Place, management described continued momentum, a lighter affordable-housing burden after the Section 73 change, and no immediate plan for Life Science REIT asset recycling.