Broker snap: Investec downgrades British Land after 'boring' results

14th May 2013 09:08

Investec has moved its long-standing 'buy' rating for real estate giant British Land to 'reduce' after a 'boringly in-line' full-year result on Tuesday."Preliminary results to end-March show anaemic growth in both earnings and overall capital values - albeit with offices outperforming a declining retail portfolio - and with the effect of February's marginally dilutive equity placing, there is little advancement from one year ago," said analyst Alan Carter."There wasn't even a token increase in the quarterly nominal dividend, held at 6.6p, for a full year 26.4p; dividend yield 4.25%," he said.Net asset value (NAV) per share rose just one pence to 596p in the 12 months to March 31st, slightly below the broker's 605p forecast, while profit before tax of £274m and earnings per share were broadly in line with forecasts of £273m and 29.7p, respectively.Carter said: "Performance metrics were boringly in-line with expectations, with the NAV virtually unchanged over 12 months as we believe the valuers remain unwilling to reflect the strength that we think is inherent in much of the portfolio."He said that while Investec's forecasts have been left unchanged for the current year (ending March 2014), with a "turgid growth rate on all metrics" there is little to justify the current 621p share price (as of Monday's close).The broker has maintained its 600p target price for the stock.The share price was up 0.81% at 626p by 09:22 on Tuesday morning.BC