British Land Resists Rate Fears

LONDON - Real estate investment trust British Land gave hope to Britain's property followers on Thursday after it posted solid second-quarter results and bolstered its stock with dividends and buy-backs. It now remains to be seen whether the company has weathered the worst of the threat of rising interest rates. "British Land is significantly outperforming the sector in net asset value growth," said Stuart Draper, analyst with Dolmen Securities. He said that, historically, property stocks had been undervalued by around 10% to their net asset value, while British Land's discount stood at 30% on the back of worries that interest rates would rise.