Helical hopes to outperform with 87% of rents collected

Helical is confident it will outperform the market this year, as it takes advantage of the “green premium” on grade-A office space. In an update ahead of today’s AGM, the office landlord and developer said that enquiries were increasing and rents were holding up. So far Helical has collected 87.3% of rents for the June quarter. Agreements are in place for a further 6.7% to be paid in instalments in the period leading up to the September quarter day. “As a result, we anticipate that by the end of September we will have collected between 94% and 96% of all contracted rent.” Chief executive Gerald Kaye quoted a recent JLL report which stated that, while overall central London vacancy rates remain at around 7%, that of Grade-A space is below 1%. “This highlights the divergence in the market and reinforces our view that there will be a clear ‘green premium’ for the best-in-class office space and a ‘brown discount’ for the rest.” Kaye added that the firm was also benefitting as occupiers withdrew grey space from the market. “Coupled with signs that tenant-controlled space is being withdrawn from the market as occupiers reverse decisions made during the pandemic to sub-let that space, we are confident that our best-in-class offices will continue to outperform in a bifurcated market.” Helical plans to offer a 7.40p dividend, if approved by shareholders later today, taking the total dividend for the year to 10.10p. The 2020 dividend was 8.70p. To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews