Financial review

Overview

Table 1: Highlights

1.    Including our proportionate share of subsidiaries and joint ventures, as explained in the Presentation of financial information below.

In the property markets in which we operate, valuations proved more resilient than we expected at the start of the year, despite the backdrop of political and economic uncertainty. Over the year, our assets declined in value by 0.7% or £91m (including our proportionate share of subsidiaries and joint ventures) compared with a £147m decline last year.

During the year, we continued to look for opportunities to buy back legacy bonds in a cost effective manner and issue new debt at the significantly lower interest rates which prevail today. In total, we repurchased £1,529m of bonds at a premium of £446m. This debt management activity is behind the loss per share of 32.9p and the reduction in our net assets. It is also a significant contributor to the increase in our underlying earnings as a result of lower ongoing interest costs. Revenue profit was up 6.3% from £382m to £406m and adjusted diluted earnings per share were up 9.9% at 53.1p.

Adjusted diluted earnings per share grew at a faster rate than revenue profit as we reduced the number of shares in issue in September 2017 with a 15 for 16 share consolidation. This accompanied the £475m return of capital associated with the sale of 20 Fenchurch Street, EC3 at record pricing for a building in the City.

Presentation of financial information

Our property portfolio is a combination of properties that are wholly owned by the Group, part owned through joint arrangements and those owned by the Group but where a third party holds a non-controlling interest. Internally, management review the results of the Group on a basis that adjusts for these forms of ownership to present a proportionate share. The Combined Portfolio, with assets totalling £14.1bn, is an example of this approach, reflecting the economic interest we have in our properties regardless of our ownership structure. We consider this presentation provides a better explanation to stakeholders of the activities and performance of the Group, as it aggregates the results of all of the Group's property interests which under IFRS are required to be presented across a number of line items in the statutory financial statements.

The same principle is applied to many of the other measures we discuss and, accordingly, a number of our financial measures include the results of our joint ventures and subsidiaries on a proportionate basis. Measures that are described as being presented on a proportionate basis include the Group's share of joint ventures on a line-by-line basis, but exclude the non-owned elements of our subsidiaries. This is in contrast to the Group's statutory financial statements, where the Group's interest in joint ventures is presented as one line on the income statement and balance sheet, and all subsidiaries are consolidated at 100% with any non-owned element being adjusted as a non-controlling interest or redemption liability, as appropriate. Our joint operations are presented on a proportionate basis in all financial measures.

Most of the measures discussed in this Financial review are presented on a proportionate basis. Measures presented on a proportionate basis are alternative performance measures as they are not defined under IFRS. For further details see table 16 in the Business analysis section.

Income statement

Our income statement has two key components: the income we generate from leasing our investment properties net of associated costs (including finance expense), which we refer to as revenue profit, and items not directly related to the underlying rental business, principally valuation changes, profits or losses on the disposal of properties and finance charges related to the bond repurchases, which we refer to as Capital and other items.

We present two measures of earnings per share; the IFRS measure of earnings per share is based on the total profit for the year attributable to owners of the parent, while adjusted diluted earnings per share is based on tax-adjusted revenue profit, referred to as adjusted earnings.

Table 2: Income statement

Our loss before tax was £251m, compared with a profit of £112m in the prior year due to higher costs in Capital and other items. While the valuation deficit was smaller this year, we incurred higher costs associated with the redemption of some of our bonds. The loss before tax drives a 47.2p reduction in earnings per share from 14.3p in the prior year to a loss per share of 32.9p in the year ended 31 March 2018. Adjusted diluted earnings per share increased by 9.9% from 48.3p to 53.1p this year as a result of an increase in revenue profit from £382m to £406m and a reduction in the weighted average number of shares in issue.

The reasons behind the movements in revenue profit and Capital and other items are discussed in more detail below.

Revenue profit

Revenue profit is our measure of underlying pre-tax profit, presented on a proportionate basis. A full definition of revenue profit is given in the glossary. The main components of revenue profit, including the contributions from London and Retail, are presented in the table below.

Table 3: Revenue profit

1.    Includes finance lease interest, after rents payable.

Revenue profit increased by £24m to £406m for the year ended 31 March 2018 (2017: £382m). This was the result of an £11m increase in net rental income for the year and a lower net finance expense, partly offset by higher net indirect expenses. The movements are explained in more detail below.

Net rental income

Table 4: Net rental income(1)

1.    Including our proportionate share of subsidiaries and joint ventures, as explained in the Presentation of financial information above.

Net rental income increased by £11m in the year ended 31 March 2018 as rental income growth from our development portfolio and acquisitions was only partly offset by the impact of properties sold since 1 April 2016 and a small decline in like-for-like income. Significant disposals included 20 Fenchurch Street, EC3, Greyhound Retail Park, Chester and some Accor hotels sold in the current year, as well as The Printworks, Manchester and The Cornerhouse, Nottingham, both sold in the prior year. Our developments generated £18m of additional net rental income following the completion of Nova, SW1, 20 Eastbourne Terrace, W2 and 1 New Street Square, EC4. Like-for-like net rental income declined by £2m primarily due to an increase in bad debt provisions.

Further information on the net rental income performance of the London and Retail portfolios is given in the respective business reviews.

Net indirect expenses

The indirect costs of the London and Retail portfolios and net unallocated expenses should be considered together as collectively they represent the net indirect expenses of the Group including joint ventures. In total, net indirect expenses were £82m (2017: £79m). The £3m increase is the result of higher share-based payment charges, depreciation and administration costs.

Net finance expense (included in revenue profit)

Table 5: Net finance expense(1)

1.    Including our proportionate share of subsidiaries and joint ventures, as explained in the Presentation of financial information above.

Our net finance expense has decreased by £16m to £123m, primarily due to interest savings following the repurchase of medium term notes in the current and prior years and the redemption of the £273m Queen Anne's Gate (QAG) Bond this year. This has been partly offset by lower capitalised interest following the completion of developments.

Capital and other items

An explanation of the main Capital and other items is given below.

Table 6: Capital and other items(1)

1.     Including our proportionate share of subsidiaries and joint ventures, as explained in the Presentation of financial information above.

Valuation of investment properties

Our Combined Portfolio declined in value by 0.7% or £91m compared with a decrease in the prior year of £147m. A breakdown of valuation movements by category is shown in table 7.

Table 7: Valuation analysis

1.    Rental value change excludes units materially altered during the year.

Over the year to 31 March 2018, we saw a small decline in values in a number of the categories within our Combined Portfolio. Overall values were down 0.7%, with the like-for-like portfolio down 1.5%. With the property sectors in which we operate experiencing limited change in rental values and equivalent yields, our valuation performance is more influenced by individual asset performance than wider market movements.

Within the like-for-like portfolio, our shopping centres fell in value by 3.0% as rental value growth was insufficient to offset a 10 basis points outward yield shift. The largest movement was at Bluewater where the value was down 11% as the valuer moved its yield out by 50 basis points based on the limited transactional evidence available. The value of our Retail parks was down 1.1% as rental values declined by a similar amount while our Leisure and hotel assets were up in value by 0.7% as rental values grew. Rental value declines and a 12% fall in the value of one of our oldest assets, Portland House, SW1 were behind the 1.5% reduction in London office values.

Outside the like-for-like portfolio, our pre-letting to Deutsche Bank at 21 Moorfields, EC2 and completion of Westgate Oxford led to the 18.3% valuation surplus on our Development programme. Completed developments were up 1.0% in value on the back of the successful letting of Nova, SW1 during the year, while the requirement to adjust for future purchaser's costs was behind the 1.9% fall in the value of our Acquisitions, partly offset by rental growth at the outlets we acquired.

Profits on disposals

Profits on disposals relate to the sale of investment properties, trading properties, joint ventures and other investments. We made a total profit on disposals of £99m (2017: £67m). The profit on disposal of trading properties of £30m primarily relates to the sale of residential units at Nova and Kings Gate, both SW1, and the disposal of Eastern Quarry, Ebbsfleet. The £66m profit on disposal of our investment in a joint venture relates to the sale of 20 Fenchurch Street, EC3.

Net finance expense (included in Capital and other items)

This year, we incurred £661m of net finance expense which is excluded from revenue profit.

Table 8: Net finance expense(1)

1.    Including our proportionate share of subsidiaries and joint ventures, as explained in the Presentation of financial information above.

The increase this year in net finance expense in Capital and other items is due to the increased level of debt management activity.

Exceptional items

We have not classified any items as exceptional during the year. In the prior year a £1m net credit in respect of our London office relocation has been classified as exceptional. It was excluded from revenue profit by virtue of its exceptional nature, but formed part of our loss before tax.

Taxation

As a REIT, our income and capital gains from Qualifying activities are exempt from corporation tax. 90% of this income must be distributed as a Property Income Distribution, and is taxed at the shareholder level to give a similar tax position to direct property ownership. Non-qualifying activities, such as property trading or sales of companies, are subject to corporation tax.

This year, there was a tax charge of £1m (2017: credit £1m) being a current tax credit of £1m (2017: nil) and a deferred tax charge of £2m (2017: credit £1m). The gain on the disposal of the corporate structure holding the 20 Fenchurch Street property was offset by brought forward capital losses on which no deferred tax asset had previously been recognised.

Our tax strategy is published on our corporate website. The Group has a low tax risk rating from HMRC. In the year, the total taxes we incurred and collected were £193m (2017: £129m), of which £46m (2017: £41m) was directly borne by the Group including environmental taxes, business rates and stamp duty land tax.

Balance sheet

Table 9: Balance sheet

Our net assets principally comprise the Combined Portfolio less net debt. We calculate an adjusted measure of net assets, which is lower than our net assets reported under IFRS due to an adjustment to increase our net debt to its nominal value. We believe this better reflects the underlying net assets attributable to shareholders as it more accurately reflects the future cash flows associated with our debt instruments. Both our net assets and our adjusted net assets declined over the year due to the premiums paid to redeem bonds and the impact of the return of £475m to shareholders by way of a capital distribution.

At 31 March 2018, our net assets per share were 1,418p, a decrease of 40p or 2.7% from 31 March 2017. Adjusted diluted net assets per share were 1,403p, a decrease of 14p or 1.0%. These decreases were primarily driven by the debt management transactions in the year, which have a greater impact on our net assets per share as the related bond exchange adjustment is crystallised in addition to the premium payable. The bond exchange adjustment does not impact adjusted net assets as this measure already takes into account the face value of the medium term notes.

Table 10 summarises the key components of the £826m decrease in our adjusted net assets over the year.

Table 10: Movement in adjusted net assets(1)

1.     Including our proportionate share of subsidiaries and joint ventures, as explained in the Presentation of financial information above.

Net debt and gearing

Table 11: Net debt and gearing

1.    Including our proportionate share of subsidiaries and joint ventures, as explained in the Presentation of financial information above.

2.    Adjusted net debt divided by adjusted net assets.

Over the year, our net debt increased by £643m to £3,548m. The main elements behind this increase are set out in our statement of cash flows and note 14 to the financial statements.

Adjusted net debt was up £391m to £3,652m. For a reconciliation of net debt to adjusted net debt, see note 13 to the financial statements. Table 12 sets out the main movements behind the increase in our adjusted net debt.

Table 12: Adjusted net debt(1)

1.    Including our proportionate share of subsidiaries and joint ventures, as explained in the Presentation of financial information above.

Net operating cash inflow was £345m, substantially offset by dividend payments of £314m. Capital expenditure was £205m (£171m on investment properties and £34m on trading properties), largely relating to our development programme. Net cashflows from disposals totalled £1,065m; £247m from the disposal of investment properties, £185m from the disposal of trading properties and £633m from the disposal of investments in joint ventures. We incurred an additional £390m to repurchase the medium term notes and £62m for the redemption of the QAG Bond.

The most widely used gearing measure in our industry is loan-to-value (LTV). We focus most on Group LTV, presented on a proportionate basis, which increased from 22.2% at 31 March 2017 to 25.8% at 31 March 2018, primarily due to the increase in adjusted net debt explained above. Despite this increase in the adjusted net debt, our Security Group LTV decreased from 28.3% to 27.2% primarily due to a permitted change in the calculation method, which now allows bonds purchased and held within the Security Group to be offset against debt outstanding.

Financing

At 31 March 2018, our committed revolving facilities totalled £2,090m (31 March 2017: £1,940m). The pricing of our facilities which fall due in more than one year range from LIBOR +65 basis points to LIBOR +80 basis points. Borrowings under our commercial paper programme typically have a maturity of less than three months, currently carry a weighted average interest rate of LIBOR +32 basis points and are unsecured. The total amount drawn under the syndicated bank debt and commercial paper programme was £1,100m (31 March 2017: £441m).

During the year, the Group repurchased and redeemed all £273m of the outstanding QAG Bond for an additional cost of £62m. In addition, in September, December and March, we conducted tender exercises which resulted in us buying back £1,256m (nominal value) of medium term notes (MTNs). Further details are set out in table 13 and note 14 to the financial statements. In conjunction with the tender offers, in September, we issued a £500m MTN paying a coupon of 2.625% with an expected maturity of 2037 and a £500m MTN paying a coupon of 2.750% with an expected maturity of 2057 and, in March, we issued a £350m MTN paying a coupon of 2.375% with an expected maturity of 2027.

Table 13: Redemption of medium term notes

A premium to par of £385m was paid on the MTN purchases, reflecting future gross coupon savings of £761m. Taking into account the timing and interest cost of the notes issued to fund the MTN purchases, we estimate a further net interest saving next year of £24m.

The Group's debt (on a proportionate basis) has a weighted average maturity of 13.1 years (up from 9.4 years at 31 March 2017), a weighted average cost of 2.6% (down from 4.2% at 31 March 2017) and 83% is at fixed interest rates. At 31 March 2018, we had £1.1bn of cash and available facilities. This gives the business considerable flexibility to deploy capital quickly should acquisition opportunities arise.

Changes in accounting policy

As part of the Group's review of the impact of adopting IFRS 9 on the bond exchange de-recognition adjustment (see note 14 for further details on the bond exchange de-recognition adjustment), the Group has taken the opportunity to revisit its accounting policy on determining whether an existing liability has been extinguished when carrying out a debt refinancing transaction. With effect from 1 April 2018, the Group's revised policy is:

'When debt refinancing exercises are carried out, existing liabilities will be treated as having been extinguished when the new liability is substantially different from the existing liability. In making this assessment, the Group will consider the transaction as a whole, taking into account both qualitative and quantitative characteristics'.

The revised accounting policy will result in the debt refinancing exercise completed on 3 November 2004 being treated as an extinguishment of the original debt, and therefore the bond exchange de-recognition adjustment will no longer be held on the Group's balance sheet. Further details are given in note 2 to the financial statements.

The revised accounting policy will provide more relevant and reliable information by more accurately reflecting the Group's current net asset position and the carrying value of its borrowings. The Group currently reports this revised position using alternative performance measures which adjust net debt (see note 13) and net assets (see note 4). Under the revised accounting policy, the Group will report fewer alternative performance measures.

The change in accounting policy will be applied retrospectively and comparatives restated accordingly. Had this policy been applied at 31 March 2018, net assets would have been £106m lower at £10,386m, and the loss attributable to shareholders would have been £208m lower at £44m. Net assets per share would have been 14p lower at 1,404p, and the loss per share would have been 27.1p lower at 5.8p. The change in accounting policy will have no impact on adjusted net assets per share and adjusted earnings per share as these measures already exclude the bond exchange de-recognition adjustment and the related amortisation charge respectively.

Dividend

We're recommending a final dividend of 14.65p to be paid on 27 July 2018 entirely as a Property Income Distribution to shareholders registered at the close of business on 22 June 2018. Taken together with the three quarterly dividends of 9.85p per share already paid, our full year dividend will be up 14.7% at 44.2p per share (2017: 38.55p) or £332m (2017: £305m). The first quarterly dividend for 2018/19 will be 11.3p per share (2017: 9.85p).

Landsec has a progressive dividend policy, which aims to deliver sustainable growth in dividends over time, broadly in line with our underlying earnings growth as measured by our adjusted earnings per share. The reason we use underlying earnings is that it excludes Capital and other items such as valuation movements and non-recurring income or costs.

We don't pay out a fixed percentage of adjusted earnings each year, due to the earnings volatility that can come from our investment decisions. For example, when we empty a building in advance of development, we lose rent which isn't recovered until after the new building has been built and let. Similarly, selling assets in the current low interest rate environment is likely to be earnings dilutive. Our dividend policy aims to smooth out that earnings volatility with a more consistent dividend progression.

The degree to which our adjusted earnings per share exceeds the dividend per share (known as our dividend cover) will vary for the reasons described above. In addition, when setting our dividend, we're mindful of the earnings risks we have in the business (for example, from unlet speculative developments) and the degree of flexibility we believe we require (for example, if we intend to sell properties despite the negative impact on earnings). In addition to our focus on risk and flexibility when setting the dividend, we also consider underlying cash flows, recognising that these are generally lower than underlying earnings due to the lease incentives we give our customers and refurbishment capital expenditure. Taking all these factors together, we anticipate that dividend cover will be in the range of 1.2x to 1.3x. This range is indicative only although it's unlikely that we would consistently pay a dividend per share in excess of our adjusted earnings per share and, as a minimum, we will satisfy our dividend obligation under the REIT legislation.

The proposed dividend increase for this year is 14.7% compared with underlying earnings growth of 9.9%, reducing our dividend cover to 1.2x. With almost no speculative development exposure following our letting success at Nova, SW1 and Westgate Oxford, we believe it to be appropriate for our dividend cover to be at the bottom of the anticipated range.

At 31 March 2018, the Company had distributable reserves of £3.1bn which compares with the dividend payable in respect of this year of £332m. We don't anticipate that the level of distributable reserves will limit distributions for the foreseeable future.

Martin Greenslade

Chief Financial Officer