Trafford Centre owner reports improved results
CAPITAL Shopping Centres (CSC), the London-based company which recently took over the Trafford Centre in a £1.6bn deal, this morning announced that it was in a “robust” financial position as it reported a 10% increase in the value of its investment properties.
The firm said that the value of its portfolio increased to £5.1bn in 2010 while its net debt fell by 3% to £2.43bn.
The company also increased rental income across its portfolio by 4% to £277m and declared a pre-tax profit of £446.2m for the year, compared with a £119.5m loss in 2009.
CSC, which owns a string of regional shopping centres including four of the UK’s top six outdoor shopping centres and nine major in-town centres – including Manchester’s Arndale – has said that it is “strongly positioned” for growth despite the uncertain economic climate faced by many retailers.
Chairman Patrick Burgess said the Trafford Centre acquisition, which was completed after the year end, “not only strengthens CSC’s industry position but enhances the overall quality of the Group’s assets by its complementarity”.
“As well as significantly increasing CSC’s presence in the key North West regional retail market, the structure of the transaction creates an enduring relationship with John Whittaker, whose Peel Group is now a significant shareholder, and gives us the opportunity to adopt across the enlarged group the best practices from both CSC and The Trafford Centre as we continue to focus on the management of shopping centres as attractive destinations.”
Burgess added that adding Whittaker to the CSC board in the non-executive role of deputy chairman, would also strengthen its prospects.
“John is a highly-regarded real estate investor with a passion for the shopping centre business and proven vision and development expertise.”
CSC owns fourteen UK shopping centres, including ten of the top 25 centres in the UK.
Burgess said that while the UK entered into a period of low growth, not all retail property assets would be affected equally.
“Prime destinations such as CSC’s centres with strong leisure and catering offerings are key locations for retailers’ flagship stores,” he said.
“With supply of new centres severely limited, successful UK and international retailers looking to their growth plans for the next couple of years are increasingly likely to compete for high profile, good quality space in those best centres.
“With our clear and focused strategy, our unrivalled and irreplaceable assets and our robust financial position the Board is confident of CSC achieving superior shareholder returns.”
