Great Portland Estates confident at AGM
At the AGM of Great Portland Estates today, chairman Martin Scicluna is to tell shareholders that the company has had a record leasing year, with more than £25m of annual rent secured at levels well ahead of valuers’ ERV, including almost £17m through four major lettings.
In a statement to the London Stock Exchange this morning, GPE said its net assets per share had grown by 11.9% in the year to end-March, and the valuation of the company’s property portfolio increased by 9.2%, outperforming the IPD Central London benchmark of 7.5%.
Mr. Scicluna says GPE has continued to benefit from its “disciplined approach” and focus on high-quality Central London property, let off low starting rents and with opportunities for improvement. Around 80% of GPE’s properties are in the undersupplied market for West End property.
The company completed four schemes during the year under review, delivering 31% profit on cost, and has five committed developments on site, where it expects a 38% profit on cost and has already secured major pre-lettings. GPE’s development pipeline now totals around 3.3m sq ft or 54% of its existing portfolio. Gearing remained conservative at 40% at the year-end.
Mr. Scicluna says conditions in London property markets remain “favourable”, particularly in the West End. He noted that while development finance remained scarce, restricting the supply of new space, tenant demand was trending at the long-run average, with some pockets of strong interest including from the TMT sector. “Absent a material economic setback, we expect this balance to move further in landlords’ favour over the next few years, supporting our expectations for rental growth,” he added.
