Land Securities Group Plc – Half-year results

Half-yearly results for the six months ended 30 September 2019

12 November 2019

Strong operational metrics and increased development activity in London

Chief Executive Robert Noel said:

“Landsec had a good first half, delivering resilient results in unsettled market conditions.

“We have made excellent progress on our £3.0bn pipeline of development opportunities, with 1.0 million sq ft now on site. Our new products, Myo and Fitted, have landed well with customers. We have been proactive in the tough retail market, maintaining high occupancy and protecting income. We have extended our leadership in sustainability by setting further stretching targets. And we've upped our pace in innovation, introducing better ways to design, construct and manage space.

“With a general election next month and the UK's proposed exit from the EU further delayed, we remain alert to market risks. However, Landsec enters the next six months with confidence; we're in a strong financial position, have an exciting development pipeline and are agile enough to seize value-creating opportunities as we see them.”

Results summary

Resilient results

• Revenue profit(1)(2) up 0.4% to £225m
• Loss before tax for the period of £147m (2018: profit of £42m)
• Adjusted diluted earnings per share(1)(2) up 0.3% to 30.4p
• First half dividend up 2.7% to 23.2p per share
• Combined Portfolio(1)(2) valued at £13.4bn, with a valuation deficit(1)(2) of £368m or 2.8%(3)
• EPRA net assets per share(1) down 3.2% to 1,296p
• Ungeared total property return(4) of -0.5%
• Total business return(1) of -1.5%

Strong financial position

• Group LTV ratio(1)(2) at 28.1% (31 March 2019: 27.1%)
• Adjusted net debt(1)(2) of £3.8bn (31 March 2019: £3.7bn)
• Weighted average cost of debt at 2.6% (31 March 2019: 2.7%)
• Weighted average maturity of debt at 11.8 years (31 March 2019: 12.3 years)
• Cash and available facilities(2) of £1.6bn

Robust operational metrics

• High occupancy with like-for-like voids(4) down to 2.1% (31 March 2019: 2.4%)
• Office at 0.8% (31 March 2019: 1.0%)
• Retail at 3.6% (31 March 2019: 4.0%)
• Specialist at 1.7% (31 March 2019: 1.5%)
• Development activity on track to deliver around 3.5 million sq ft of space in London:
• On site with 0.9 million sq ft of office space at 21 Moorfields,EC2; Nova East,SW1; and Lucent, W1 at half  year
• On site since September with 0.1 million sq ft development at 105 Sumner Street, SE1
• 0.8 million sq ft of further office-led developments expected to start in 2020 with the remainder to follow
• Like-for-like net rental income up £4m or 1.4%
• Office up £3m or 2.5%
• Retail down £2m or 1.5%
• Specialist up £3m or 7.7%
• Retail destinations significantly outperforming national benchmarks for footfall and sales
• Footfall down 1.8% vs benchmark down 4.2%
• Same centre sales up 0.7% (down 0.7% excluding automotive sales) vs benchmark down 3.8%

Industry leadership in sustainability

• Committed to become a net zero carbon business by 2030, with first net zero carbon building under way at 105 Sumner Street, SE1
• Recognised as sector leader, ranking first in the UK and Europe among our peer group in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), for mixed office and retail space
• European leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), scoring 82 compared with an industry average of 36