UK commercial property market strengthening, says British Land

Britain's second-biggest property company says there is more interest in its London office space

British Land said the UK commercial property market was strengthening with increased investment spreading from London into regional markets.

In a trading update, Britain's second-biggest property company said there was more interest in its London office space and that retailers were looking to open new stores.

Chief executive Chris Grigg said: "We have had a good third quarter and the business is performing well. Overall, the UK property market had a strong quarter with London strengthening further and domestic and international investment spreading out into the regional markets.

"From an occupational perspective, we saw increased interest in our office space in London, notably in the City. In retail, the economic recovery is having a positive impact on confidence and we continued to benefit from retailers looking to take space in the best quality locations."

The company said it had let the 30th floor of the Leadenhall Building, popularly known as the Cheesegrater, to upmarket serviced office business Servcorp. The deal is the first single-floor letting in the City block, of which British Land owns a half share.

British Land's strong trading is further evidence that the UK's once-troubled commercial property sector is recovering along with the economy. The CBI business lobby has reported economic output rising at its fastest since the early stages of the financial crisis in autumn 2007.

In the three months to the end of December, like-for-like occupancy rose 0.3 percentage points to 97.1% and the company let or renewed 386,000 sq ft of retail space. Sales totalling £405m included the Eastgate shopping centre in Basildon, Essex, which went for £89m – more than British Land's valuation.

British Land also announced it was changing its auditor – the latest big company to make the switch after political and investor pressure to make sure auditors are independent of management.

It will replace Deloitte with PwC, another member of the so-called big four accountants, on 1 April. Investor groups had criticised the company's relationship with Deloitte because of the large amount of lucrative non-audit work the firm did for British Land, creating a potential conflict of interest.

British Land shares were up 0.8% to 667p in early trading.

Azure Global’s vision is to be widely recognized as a reputed firm of financial business advisors, achieving real growth for ambitious companies and to become the first choice for F&A outsourcing for accountancy practices and businesses alike for more info visit our site Azure Global and join us also On Facebook