Annual Financial Report

RNS Number : 0351J

British Land Co PLC

06 June 2014

 



ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT AND NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The British Land Company PLC announces that in accordance with rule 9.6.1 of the Listing Rules, copies of the following documents have been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at: http://www.Hemscott.com/nsm.do

1.   Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2014;

2.   Notice of the 2014 Annual General Meeting which will be held at 11.00am on Friday 18 July 2014 at The Cumberland Hotel, Great Cumberland Place, London, W1H 7DL;

3.   Proxy Form for the 2014 Annual General Meeting.

The above documents have been despatched to shareholders. The Annual Report and Accounts and AGM Notice are also available on the Company's website at www.britishland.com

The information below, which is extracted from the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2014, is provided in compliance with DTR 6.3.5. It should be read in conjunction with the Company's Preliminary results announcement for the 12 months to 31 March 2014 issued on 14 May 2014. Cross-references in the extracted information below refer to sections in the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2014.

RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

The Company is providing a development loan facility of up to £320m to the Broadgate joint venture, secured against the development, 5 Broadgate. The loan, which is assignable and on commercial terms, includes an interest cost of 3% per annum above LIBOR and market based fees. As at 31 March 2014, £145m (2012/13: £53m) has been drawn by the joint venture.

Details of transactions with joint ventures and funds are given in notes 4, 7 and 24. During the year the Group recognised management and performance fees receivable from funds of £3m (2012/13: £4m) and joint venture management fees of £7m (2012/13: £6m). Interest and commitment fees earned on the commercial loan to Bluebutton Properties Ltd was £5m (2012/13: £4m).

Details of Directors' remuneration are given in the Remuneration Report on pages 82 to 107. Details of transactions with key management personnel are provided in note 9.

Details of transactions with The British Land Group of Companies Pension Scheme, and other smaller pension schemes, are given in note 10.

During the year, the Company entered into transactions, in the normal course of business, with other related parties as follows:

John Gildersleeve is Deputy Chairman of Carphone Warehouse Group plc. Rental income of £2m (2012/13: £2m) was earned from Carphone Warehouse Group plc and there is an associated debtor balance at 31 March 2014 of £nil (2012/13: £0.2m).

Lord Turnbull is a Non-Executive Director of Prudential plc. Rental income of £1.5m (2012/13: £nil) was earned from Prudential plc.

Aubrey Adams is head of property in Royal Bank of Scotland's Global Restructuring Group. Royal Bank of Scotland are British Land's principal bankers. Rental income of £7.2m (2012/13: £7.2m) was earned from Royal Bank of Scotland.

William Jackson is the Managing Partner of Bridgepoint and serves on a number of Bridgepoint portfolio boards. A number of Bridgepoint's investments are tenants. Rental income of £2.5m (2012/13: £1.9m) was earned from these companies.

DIRECTORS' RESPONSIBILITIES STATEMENT 

The Directors are responsible for preparing the Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Company law requires the Directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law the Directors are required to prepare the Group financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS s) as adopted by the European Union and Article 4 of the IAS Regulation and have elected to prepare the parent company financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). Under Company law the Directors must not approve the accounts unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Company and of the profit

or loss of the Company for that period.

In preparing the parent company financial statements, the Directors are required to:

·      select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

·      make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

·      state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and

·      prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Company will continue in business.

In preparing the Group financial statements, International Accounting Standard 1 requires that Directors:

·      properly select and apply accounting policies;

·      present information, including accounting policies, in a manner that provides relevant, reliable, comparable and understandable information;

·      provide additional disclosures when compliance with the specific requirements in IFRSs are insufficient to enable users to understand the impact of particular transactions, other events and conditions on the entity's financial position and financial performance; and

·      make an assessment of the Company's ability to continue as a going concern.

The Directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Company's transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006.

They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The Directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the Company's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

RESPONSIBILITY STATEMENT

We confirm that to the best of our knowledge:

·      the financial statements, prepared in accordance with the relevant financial reporting framework, give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole;

·      the Strategic Report includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the position of the Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face; and

·      the Annual Report and financial statements, taken as a whole, are fair, balanced and understandable and provide the information necessary for shareholders to assess the Company's performance, business model and strategy.

·      The process for preparing, reviewing and approving the Annual Report and financial statements is set out in the Governance Review on page 71.

 

END

 

 

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