IAS

British Land Co PLC
25 January 2005


                                                           25th January 2005

                    INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS


The British Land Company PLC is today hosting a Workshop to brief analysts,
investors and lenders on the impact of the move from UK Generally Accepted
Accounting Practice (UK GAAP) to International Accounting Standards (IAS) on the
Company. British Land will begin reporting under IAS in the financial year
starting
1 April 2005.

The underlying performance of the business, its cash flows and dividend policy
will be unaffected by the introduction of IAS. As outlined in the Interim
Statement dated 23 November 2004, the new standards represent a major change in
accounting and reporting but have no economic effect on the business.

The most significant changes relate to the treatment of property valuation
movements and contingent tax

   • Property valuation movements will be recorded in the profit and loss
     account, now to be known as the income statement under IAS. Under UK GAAP
     these movements are accounted through reserves. This will introduce
     volatility to the income statement, which previously affected the balance
     sheet only.

   • Contingent tax will be recognised in full on property valuations under
     IAS, without regard to whether the tax is expected to crystallize. At
     present, under UK GAAP treatment, this tax is only accounted for if it is
     actually incurred, with the unprovided contingent tax being disclosed in a
     note to the accounts.

Comparing IAS to UK GAAP for the six months ended 30 September 2004

Earnings (diluted)

Earnings per share would be restated upwards under IAS by approximately 59 pence
to 72 pence per share, mainly because of the inclusion in the income statement
of revaluation surpluses.

Adjusted IAS Earnings, being earnings before gains from asset revaluations and
disposals, would remain broadly unchanged from the underlying adjusted earnings
reported under UK GAAP of 12.1 pence per share. This adjusted IAS earnings
measure will continue to be disclosed in the future.

Net Assets (diluted)

As at 30 September 2004, adjusted IAS net assets would be approximately 12 pence
higher at 1061 pence than adjusted net assets as reported under UK GAAP. Both
measures exclude the contingent taxation (see "methodology" paragraph below).

IAS net assets would amount to some 878 pence per share, 35 pence per share
higher than the "triple net asset value" calculated from the balance sheet under
UK GAAP of 843 pence per share. Triple net asset value is calculated after
deducting contingent tax and the market value of debt and other financial
instruments. Under IAS the majority of debt will not be carried at market value.

The above figures are proforma at 30 September 2004 and do not reflect the
proposed refinancing of Broadgate announced last week, which if concluded at
market prices prevailing on 19 January 2005 would reduce net assets under both
IAS and UK GAAP by approximately 24 pence per share. Triple net assets would be
unaffected by the refinancing.

There are other less significant differences between IAS and UK GAAP, details of
which will be covered in the presentation available on the website http://
www.britishland.com later this afternoon. A webcast of the presentation will be
available tomorrow.

Methodology

Adjusted IAS net assets is stated after adding back contingent tax, the capital
allowance effects of FRS 19, the market value of interest rate swaps and
including the valuation surplus on trading properties. Adjusted UK GAAP net
assets is stated after adding back the valuation surplus on trading and
development properties and excluding the capital allowance effects of FRS 19. It
already excludes contingent taxes and the market value of interest rate swaps.


Important notice

The workshop and accompanying presentation have been written in general terms
and are based on a current interpretation of IAS. All numbers are estimates, and
are rounded to the nearest £5 million and are included only for illustrative
purposes. They are subject to change and should not be considered definitive.


Contacts

The British Land Company PLC:

Graham Roberts, Finance Director                         tel: [phone]
Amanda Jones, Head of Investor Relations                 tel: [phone]



                      This information is provided by RNS
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