Town Centre finds tenants for Piccadilly Basin
LANDLORD Town Centre Securities said it is close to letting two of the three remaining units at its Piccadilly Basin development in Manchester.
The Leeds business said independent lifestyle firm Go Outdoors will start trading in April from 55,000 sq ft of the site, formerly occupied by Scandinavian furniture company Ilva, and two other units are now under offer.
Discount supermarket chain Aldi was the first tenant at the trading estate on the inner city-centre ring road which is 60% let. Reporting figures for the six months to December 31 the group said the site, now known as Urban Exchange, accounted for 3% of its void rate of 4.4%.
Underlying profits rose from £2.5m to £4.4m during the period but overall pre-tax profits fell to £7.8m from £31.5m. The company said last year’s figure included a £9m profit on repurchase of debenture stock and a valuation movement of £19.7m.
Edward Ziff, chairman and chief executive, said: “We have reported a significant improvement in our underlying profitability. This follows continued focus on reducing occupancy voids and the rebasing of our operating costs and interest charges.
“We are confident that our focus on value for money retailing will drive our future income generation and continue to under pin the strength of the business and sustain our dividend.”
The interim dividend will rise from 3.02p to 3.10p per share.
