British Land indicated on Tuesday that it intends to become more active in the investment market after posting robust preliminary earning figures for the year to end-March. The UK REIT posted a pre-tax profit of £1.13 bn (EUR 1.3 bn) for the year, up from a £3.9 bn loss in the previous 12-month reporting period.

Growth could come from both new acquisitions and organic growth of its existing portfolio, British Land said. The company's portfolio was valued at £8.5 bn at end-March, up 13.5% on the previous year and the first increase in value in two years since the onset of the property downturn. Net asset value rose 27% to 504p per share with a total return of 33.5% (16.6% in Q4).

British Land invested £247 mln in selected retail and office assets in its 2010 book year and has committed nearly £500 mln to develop 111,000 m2 of prime office space in London.

CEO Chris Grigg commented: 'In a year of real volatility, we have performed well, reflecting the quality and strength of our portfolio and the actions we've undertaken to improve it. We are focused on the right assets in the right sectors and outperformed versus almost every measure tracked by the IPD, a key indicator of our achievement.'