Last checked at 6 Jul 2015 07:00
6 July 2015
Capital & Regional plc (the "Company" or the "Group")
Valuation Update
Capital & Regional plc, the UK focused specialist REIT with a portfolio of dominant in-town community shopping centres, today provides an update on the valuation of its six wholly owned Mall shopping centres, prior to the announcement of its half year results on 12 August 2015.
Mall Portfolio Valuation
The valuation of the Mall portfolio at 30 June 2015 was £791.0 million, an increase of 6.2% on the valuation of £744.7 million at 30 December 2014. This has been driven primarily by net initial yield compression of 32 basis points from 6.27% to 5.95%, reflecting the continued strength of the property investment market and the impact of our asset management initiatives.
Investment plans
A total of £4.5 million was spent on the Mall portfolio in the first half of the year, during which the Company completed the refurbishment of The Mall Walthamstow. Investment is expected to accelerate in the second half of the year as the refurbishment at Maidstone and the reconfiguration of a key part of The Mall Blackburn commence. In addition, following the grant of planning consent, the Company is investing approximately £12 million through its 50% JV interest in The Buttermarket Centre Ipswich, where rapid progress is being made in delivering this exciting opportunity to create a vibrant mixed retail and leisure scheme in the heart of the town.
Hugh Scott-Barrett, Chief Executive, commented:
"This increase in property valuations demonstrates the quality of our portfolio of dominant shopping centres and the important progress we have made with our long term capex investment plans. These plans, together with the work now underway at the newly acquired scheme in Ipswich, provide cause for a positive outlook on income growth, which is expected to drive future increases in valuations.
"Operationally, performance has been satisfying with Mall occupancy and contracted rent at 31 May 2015 higher than at the same date last year. This follows a period of strong letting and lease renewal activity, alongside which our tracking of retailers' turnover is showing an encouraging trend and Mall footfall figures are in line with last year and ahead of our benchmark."
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For further information:
Capital & Regional: | Tel: 020 7932 8000 |
Hugh Scott-Barrett, Chief Executive | |
Charles Staveley, Group Finance Director | |
FTI Consulting | Tel: 020 3727 1000 |
Richard Sunderland Claire Turvey capreg@fticonsulting.com |
Notes to editors:
About Capital & Regional plc
Capital & Regional is a UK focused specialist property REIT with a strong track record of delivering value enhancing retail and leisure asset management opportunities across a c. £1 billion portfolio of in-town dominant community shopping centres.
Capital & Regional owns six Mall shopping centres in Blackburn, Camberley, Luton, Maidstone, Walthamstow and Wood Green. It also has a 20% joint venture interest in the Kingfisher Centre in Redditch and a 50% joint venture in the Buttermarket Centre, Ipswich. Capital & Regional manages these assets, which comprise over 900 retail units and attract c. 1.7 million shopping visits each week, through its in-house expert property and asset management platform.
For further information see www.capreg.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This document contains certain statements that are neither reported financial results nor other historical information. These statements are forward-looking in nature and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual future results may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by these statements. Many of these risks and uncertainties relate to factors that are beyond Capital & Regional's ability to control or estimate precisely, such as future market conditions, currency fluctuations, the behaviour of other market participants, the actions of governmental regulators and other risk factors such as the Group's ability to continue to obtain financing to meet its liquidity needs, changes in the political, social and regulatory framework in which the Group operates or in economic or technological trends or conditions, including inflation and consumer confidence, on a global, regional or national basis. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this document. Capital & Regional does not undertake any obligation to publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this document. Information contained in this document relating to the Group should not be relied upon as a guide to future performance.