Land Securities hit by £1.4bn loss as lockdowns leave properties empty

Most of Land Securities premises – including Trinity Leeds shopping centre (pictured) have closed or unoccupied for months

One of the UK’s biggest commercial landlords made a £1.4billion annual loss as lockdowns left properties empty and hammered rent income.

In the 12 months to March 31 losses at Land Securities rose from £837million the previous year after like-for-like rental income across its London properties plunged 30.4 per cent.

Most premises were closed or largely unoccupied for more than half the year. The value of its combined portfolio across offices, retail and leisure tumbled 13.7 per cent to £10.8billion.

The group raised its full-year dividend to 27p a share, up from 23.2p in 2020 but admitted hybrid working – combining remote and office working – is here to stay, saying its future impact is ‘far from clear and will not be uniform’.

Chief executive Mark Allan said: ‘We are now entering the recovery phase. 

There is the real prospect of a strong consumption-led recovery across the remainder of 2021 and 2022.’