// British Land targets asset sales of around £650m over the next six to 12 months
// The company will continue offloading assets following its recent £450m disposal
// The focus will remain on central London
British Land is reportedly targeting asset sales of around £650 million over the next six to 12 months as it seeks to be “comfortable around regional economic growth”.
The property giant’s chief executive Simon Carter said the company will continue offloading assets following its recent £450 million disposal, Property Week reported.
“We’re likely to continue the pace in retail. The other area is standalone offices, where we’ve sold around £200 million, including Clarges in London’s Mayfair,” he said.
READ MORE: British Land’s retail estate drops in value as CVAs increase
“We’ll continue to do that. That is very much the direction of travel.”
Carter also suggested that British Land was open to launching its mixed-use development strategy beyond London to regions where it could be used to reposition its retail assets.
However, he said the focus would remain on central London.
Carter said British Land is seeking to be comfortable around regional economic growth in those areas as it takes off elsewhere.
Carter joined as chief executive from Chris Grigg on Wednesday, the day British Land revealed it would resume dividend pay-outs to investors despite an increase in pre-tax losses and falls in revenue and asset valuations.
The Meadowhall shopping centre owner posted a pre-tax loss of £757 million for the six months to the end of September, compared with a loss of £440 milion for the same period last year.
Underlying earnings per share – the company’s preferred metric as it excludes exceptional costs – were down 30 per cent to 10.5p.
Revenue in the period fell 22 per cent to £225 million and the value of British Land’s assets slid 7.3 per cent to £10.32 billion.
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