Directorate Change
THE BRITISH LAND COMPANY PLC
BOARD CHANGES
The British Land Company PLC announces that Lucinda Bell has been appointed as Finance Director with effect from 24th May 2011. Lucinda is currently Deputy Finance Director and joins the Company's Board as an Executive Director with immediate effect. She succeeds Graham Roberts who intends to stand down from the Board on 30th June 2011.
British Land also announces the appointment of two new non-executive directors. They are Simon Borrows, Chairman of Greenhill & Co International LLP and a non-executive director of Inchcape plc, and William Jackson, Chief Executive of Bridgepoint. Mr Borrows will join the Board on 17th March 2011 and Mr Jackson will join on 11th April 2011. Mr Jackson will join the Company's Audit Committee on appointment. Clive Cowdery, due to the demands of his other increasingly international business commitments, will be stepping down from his non-executive directorship of the Company on 17th March 2011.
Chris Grigg, Chief Executive, commented: "We thank Graham for his significant contribution to the Company as Finance Director for the past nine years; he leaves with our very best wishes for the future. British Land has developed a very strong finance function under Graham's leadership. It is particularly pleasing that Graham's successor is an internal appointment from this excellent team. Lucinda has worked for the Company in a wide range of finance positions and has consistently demonstrated that she has the capability and experience to be an outstanding Finance Director. Graham and Lucinda will be working together over the coming months to ensure a smooth transition of his responsibilities."
Chris Gibson-Smith, Chairman said: "Graham has made an important contribution to British Land during a key period of its development, providing an important source of stability through a period of change and Clive has contributed greatly to our Board with his insight and business acumen. They both leave with our sincere thanks. We are delighted with the new appointments which further strengthen our Board and I look forward to working with Lucinda, Simon and William."
Enquiries:
British Land
Investor Relations
Sally Jones, British Land 020 7467 2942
Media
Pip Wood, British Land 020 7467 2838
Gordon Simpson, Finsbury Group 020 7251 3801
Notes to editors
Lucinda Bell, MA, FCA . Since joining British Land in 1991, Lucinda Bell has held a wide range of roles in the Group finance function. She is the Deputy Finance Director and Director of Tax and Financial Planning and is a member of the Executive Committee. She graduated with First Class Honours in Law at Exeter College, Oxford and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen. She was the sole property company member of the HM Treasury appointed Working Party to develop the REIT structure. She has also served as a Governor of the University of Westminster where she chaired the Finance and Property Committee.
Graham Roberts, BA, FCA joined British Land on 1st January 2002. He was previously a partner in Arthur Andersen. He is a non-executive director and Chairman of the Audit Committee of Balfour Beatty PLC.
Further details on the new non-executive directors
Simon Borrows
Simon is Chairman of Greenhill & Co International LLP and a non-executive director of Inchcape plc. He has worked for 28 years in the banking and finance industry and prior to Greenhill was The Managing Director of Baring Brothers International Ltd.
William Jackson
William is the Chief Executive of Bridgepoint, a leading international private equity firm. He serves on a number of Bridgepoint portfolio Boards, including Pret a Manger and Dorna Sports SL.
The current non-executive directors are:
Dr. Chris Gibson-Smith, Chairman, who is Chairman of the London Stock Exchange.
Lord Turnbull, formerly Secretary of the Cabinet and Head of the Home Civil Service.
Clive Cowdery, founder of Resolution.
Aubrey Adams, formerly Chief Executive of Savills PLC.
John Gildersleeve,Chairman of New Look plc and Deputy Chairman of Carphone Warehouse Group PLC
Richard Pym, Chairman of Bradford & Bingley plc and of Northern Rock (Asset Management) plc.
Dido Harding, Chief Executive Officer of TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC
The recruitment of the new Finance Director and new non-executive directors was conducted by the Company's Nomination Committee with assistance from the Executive Search Consultants, Russell Reynolds.
About British Land
British Land is one of the UK's largest Real Estate Investment Trusts with total assets, owned or under management, valued at £14.5 billion (British Land share £9.3 billion), as at 31 December 2010. Our property portfolio is focused on high quality retail locations and central London offices which we believe are well placed to benefit from growing customer demand. We have among the highest occupancy rates and lease lengths of the major UK REITs at 98.1% and 12.1 years respectively.
Retail assets account for 66% of our portfolio, around 80% of which are located at prime out-of-town sites. Our portfolio comprises over 26 million sq ft of retail space across 89 retail warehouse properties, 99 superstores, 12 shopping centres and 10 department stores. Our portfolio benefits from flexible planning consents making the portfolio adaptable to a wide range of formats. This allows us to actively manage our portfolio and deliver the most attractive space to both retailers and consumers.
Central London offices currently comprise 32% of the portfolio. Our portfolio comprises over 6 million sq ft of office space and includes a 50% share in Broadgate, the premier office campus in the City and Regent's Place, an office estate in the West End. During 2010, we committed to a significant development programme in central London which on the basis of current estimates of values at completion, increase the weighting of offices in the group's portfolio from 32% to nearly 40%. These developments, which will deliver 2.2 million sq ft of high quality space in the City and West End by 2014, include: a new 700,000 sq ft building for UBS at Broadgate; the 610,000 sq ft Leadenhall Building in London's insurance district; and the 500,000 sq ft NEQ building, which will complete the Regent's Place estate in the West End. The aggregate development cost, including land and interest is expected to be £1.5 billion, of which British Land's share is £1.0 billion.
Further details can be found on the British Land website at www.britishland.com
This information is provided by RNS