SONGBIRD Estates Plc, owner of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc's European headquarters in London's Canary Wharf, reported a first-half loss yesterday as the value of its real estate dropped by 592 million pounds (US$1.1 billion).

The net loss was 245.2 million pounds, or 54 pence a share, compared with a profit of 212.9 million pounds, or 47.1 pence, a year earlier, the company said. Net asset value before dividends fell 12 percent to 247 pence a share, Bloomberg News reported.

Songbird controls Canary Wharf, the 39-hectare district in east London occupied by banks including Morgan Stanley, Barclays Plc and Citigroup Inc. Songbird's dependence on financial-services companies, after banks sustained more than US$520 of losses since the third quarter of last year, has contributed to a 45-percent decline in its shares this year, the company said.