Mailbox back in black after first year as quoted company

Mailbox REIT is back in the black following its first year as a publicly quoted company. The REIT, which was admitted to IPSX in May 2021, pulled in pretax profit of £1.8m, up from a loss of £22.4m in 2020, while pretax operating profit before fair value changes was £7.8m, up from £6.6m in 2020. Its sole asset, Birmingham’s iconic Mailbox building, rose in value by 2.6% to £185.8m, with NAV climbing to £86m. Rent receipts fell from £11m in 2020 to £10.3m, largely as a result of write-offs from the previous year, when Covid concessions were offered to tenants. Stephen Barter, chair of Mailbox REIT, said: “This is a very positive first set of full-year results for Mailbox REIT as a publicly quoted company. This performance both underlines Mailbox’s potential as a prime regional office-led, mixed-use asset and demonstrates our ability to deliver on the goals set out at IPO, particularly against a backdrop of a more confident economic outlook for the UK, and particularly for Birmingham and other main regional cities.” He added that the asset management team at M7, which owns 70% of the REIT, had captured renewed occupier confidence by leasing more than 15,000 sq ft of office and food and beverage space, bringing vacancy levels to below 5% and adding some £400,000 to the rent roll after rent-frees. The REIT said the conversion of the former shopping area on level one to create 50,000 sq ft of offices is progressing, with £3.3m of the projected £9.3m invested. IWG Spaces’ serviced office is due to open on site in Q2. It added that its commitment to be net zero for all emissions by 2040 had already saved the business £60,000 through fitting energy efficient lighting, and energy consumption had fallen by 18.4%. To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews Image from Mailbox REIT