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The head of British Land today warned that the property slump is far from over after the developer racked up losses of £3.9 billion.
Chief executive Chris Grigg, a former employee at Goldman Sachs and Barclays Commercial Bank, said property values will continue to fall this year.
It came after British Land, which owns 201 Bishopsgate and Broadgate Tower in the City, revealed its estate fell 28% or £3.2 billion in value in the 12 months to the end of March to leave it worth £8.6 billion.
"We must expect some further decline over the course of the year," said Grigg, who took over at British Land in January after Stephen Hester defected to Royal Bank of Scotland.
"The ongoing stress and disruption in the financial sectors has resulted in a shocking year for most markets," he added. The loss of £3.9 billion for the year extended the loss of £1.6billion a year earlier but was better than the £4.8 billion yearly loss racked up by rival Land Securities, which last week said its property portfolio fell 34% last year.
British Land raised its dividend by 3% to 29.8p a share.
The firm has moved aggressively to protect itself against the downturn and last year sold £1.9 billion of property, including the Willis building in the City for £400 million and half its interest in the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield for £588 million.
It recently raised £740 million in a rights issue.
