LONDON (dpa-AFX) - British Land Co Plc. (BRLAF, BTLCY, BLND.L) said that it plans to allocate up to 300 million pounds of capital to a share buy-back during the current financial year.
Chris Grigg, Chief Executive, said, 'We continue to see strong demand in the investment market, which makes opportunities to acquire new standing assets, at attractive returns, more limited than usual. With our shares trading at a substantial discount to NAV and providing a 5% dividend yield, allocating capital into a share buy-back represents a clear value opportunity.'
British Land noted that the sale of The Leadenhall Building for 575 million pounds (BL share) has been completed, 135 million pounds assets have been sold and a further 88 million pounds are under offer.
In total, 370,000 sq ft of lettings and renewals were made during the first quarter at 7.8% ahead of ERV.
A further 870,000 sq ft of space is under offer or in advanced negotiations across British Land's three London campuses.
The first interim dividend payment for the quarter ended 30 June 2017 will be 7.52 pence per share, a 3.0% increase on the comparable period last year. The first interim dividend will be paid on 10 November 2017 to shareholders on the register at close of business on 6 October 2017 and will be a Property Income Distribution.
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