British Land reports a strong start to its financial year; Renewables Infrastructure Group signs a power supply contract with Virgin Media O2; plus news from Oakley Capital Investments, EJF Investments, RTW Biotech Opportunities, Abrdn Asia Focus, Sirius Real Estate, Great Portland Estate and Sequoia Economic Infrastructure.

British Land (BLND) shares gain 5.6% to 382.8p in early trading after the £3.8bn real estate giant issues an upbeat half-year trading statement. Chief executive Simon Carter said strong like-for-like rental growth of 4%, development leasing and lower administration expenses had offset increased funding costs and enabled the group to deliver underlying earnings per share of 15.4p. “As a result, and reflecting our focus on delivering sustainable earnings growth, we now anticipate FY26 underlying EPS of at least 28.5p, with growth of at least 6% projected for FY27. Alongside this earnings outlook, going forward we expect to deliver a total accounting return of 8-10% pa, of which 4% was achieved in the first half.” Interim results will be published on 19 November.

The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) has signed a 10-year power purchase agreement for its Garreg Lwyd and Earlseat onshore wind farms in Wales and Scotland to supply energy to the recently merged mobile phone company Virgin Media O2. InfraRed fund manager Minesh Shah said: “Such agreements present an attractive opportunity to support businesses in accessing renewable electricity at a fixed price, while delivering secure, long-term revenue streams for our shareholders”.

Matthew Read, senior analyst at QuotedData, said: “We are pleased to see TRIG’s announcement that it has signed a 10-year PPA for Garreg Lwyd and Earlseat with Telefonica UK / Virgin Media O2. From TRIG’s shareholders’ perspective, the PPA is with a quality counterparty and gives certainty over the cash flows from these assets for a decade. The PPA provides some additional ballast to the portfolio by reducing sensitivity to merchant power prices at the margin. The new PPA runs for a decade and its length reflects a trend of increasing PPA length in the UK – the US, for example often has PPA agreements of 15 years or longer – and we think the trend towards longer PPAs is likely to continue.” 

EJF Investments (EJFI), a £76m investor in US senior bank debt, says its 5% liquidity option was taken up in full by investors. It will buy back over 3m shares at 143.4p and pay shareholders on 27 October. At 124.5p the investment company stands on a 21% discount to net asset value.

Oakley Capital has announced that its Origin Fund II is partnering with GPF Partners of Madrid and founder Jesús Ballvé to invest in NOX, the Spanish maker of premium padel equipment. The Origin Fund II will be the majority investor but GPF Partners and Ballvé will retain a significant minority stake. Oakley Capital Investments (OCI) which invests in funds managed by Oakley Capital, will have an exposure to NOX in the region of £9m, through its investment in Origin Fund II. This is the second new investment by Oakley Capital this week. Yesterday it announced an investment in ONHC, an Italian specialist private healthcare insurance services provider, with OCI’s exposure in the region of £10m.

RTW Biotech Opportunities (RTW) has invested a further $7.4m in Kailera Therapeutics as part of the unquoted obesity specialist’s $600m series B financing round led by Bain Capital. At 30 September, the US company accounted for 4% of RTW’s $695m portfolio. The money raised will fund the phase three trial of Kailera’s lead obesity drug treatment KAI-953.

abrdn Asia Focus (AAS) has changed its name to Aberdeen Asia Focus following its fund manager’s decision to drop the abrdn brand and rename itself the Aberdeen Group.

Sirius Real Estate (SRE), the £1.5bn business park investor in the UK and Germany, says Fitch has reaffirmed its long-term issuer default rating (IDR) and senior unsecured rating at BBB, with a stable outlook. The company will announce half-year results on 17 November.

Great Portland Estates (GPE), the London office developer, has gained planning permission from Southwark Council to redevelop St Thomas Yard, previously known as New City Court, as a 190,000 sq ft 11-storey office building with the historic frontage to St Thomas Street retained.

Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income (SEQI), the £1.2bn infrastructure debt fund, says net asset value per share rose 1.19p to 92.48p in September from 93.67p at 31 August. Loan repayments, asset revaluations, currency movements and share buybacks all contributed to the gain. The 8.9% yielder stands on a 17% discount.