Intu reveals £920m warchest
Retail REIT intu has revealed it has £920m in cash and facilities that it intends to use to pursue opportunities “as they arise in the UK and Spain”.
This is despite declines in footfall and rental in a market that intu said continues to be challenging.
In an interim statement for the six months to June 2016, the REIT said it had performed robustly. Rental income declined by 1.5% over the period, despite 103 new leases being signed. Occupancy across the portfolio was 95.9%, down from 96% at the end of 2016. Footfall decreased by 0.5%.
Retail REIT intu has revealed it has £920m in cash and facilities that it intends to use to pursue opportunities “as they arise in the UK and Spain”.
This is despite declines in footfall and rental in a market that intu said continues to be challenging.
In an interim statement for the six months to June 2016, the REIT said it had performed robustly. Rental income declined by 1.5% over the period, despite 103 new leases being signed. Occupancy across the portfolio was 95.9%, down from 96% at the end of 2016. Footfall decreased by 0.5%.
Intu chief executive David Fischel said: “The resilience of the tenant market in our centres is shown by our 103 lettings in the period at 7% above previous passing rents, including brands such as Next, River Island, Hugo Boss, Gant, Paul Smith, Victoria’s Secret and Tesla. Also, our tenants continue to invest in upsizing and upgrading their units, which has resulted in maintained high occupancy.”
Intu has a £679m UK development programme, which it said was progressing on schedule.
A £180m extension at intu Watford will open in autumn 2018 and the company said it intends to start shortly on the £71m leisure extension at intu Lakeside in Essex, which is more than 90% let.
Net rental income rose to £226.2m from £219.4m at the end of December 2016. However, underlying earnings fell slightly from £99.5m to £98.5m.
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