British Land enjoys strong quarter driven by good retail space sales

27th Jan 2015 09:10

Property development and investment group British Land said it saw strong demand in retail space during its third quarter to December.The number of investment lettings and renewals was 10.9% ahead of the company's expectations, at 269,000 sq ft, while retail footfall continued to outperform with an increase of 1.3%.The group sold £900m including residential sales. Its Clarges Mayfair luxury apartments made £259m of sales year to date.British Land confirmed a dividend of 6.92p, 2.5% ahead of same time last year.Chief executive Chris Grigg said: "It's been another good period for our business: we are leasing well, making progress with developments and have continued to take advantage of strong investment markets to recycle capital."Our focus on providing shopping environments which meet the changing needs of today's consumer means we have benefited from growing demand for the right retail space," he continued.Shares were up 0.19% to 834.56p on Tuesday at 10:01.