Reuters 'to sell HQ in shake-up'

THE freehold of Reuters' famous white granite headquarters at 85 Fleet Street in London could be up for sale in a far-reaching strategic review of the group's property portfolio to be carried out by bankers NM Rothschild.

The world's oldest news agency, founded in 1851, owns nine leaseholds and three freeholds with an estimated sale and leaseback value of £200m, says Property Week magazine. The building, home to scores of globe-trotting journalists since it opened in 1939, is likely to remain Reuters' headquarters, leased back from a property company.

Included in the group's property portfolio are its Blackwall Yard data centre and 700,000 square feet of development land in Docklands. Property insiders have been saying that the Docklands land could be developed for residential use, but it is more likely to have its freehold sold off and offices built on it.

These would be leased back to Reuters to house employees at its two other freehold sites in the City of London and at East India Dock.

Last month Reuters, the world's biggest financial news provider, reported its first loss since it listed on the stock market in 1984. It plunged to an £88m first-half loss compared with a £357m profit last year.