British Land : Real estate firm British Land's profit, asset value drop

Real estate firm British Land Co on Wednesday reported a fall in profit and the value of its assets in the first half of the year, as a raft of retail store closures continue to hit the UK property market.

The company's shares slipped as much as 2% in early deals after it said underlying profit per share dropped 6.4%, while net asset value per share fell 5.4% for the six months ended Sept. 30.

The impact of a sluggish retailer sector has been felt across the board, with peer Land Securities on Tuesday also pointing to challenges driven by retailers going into administration.

(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)