Revaluation wipes £11m off Texas Group’s portfolio

SALFORD-based property and investment firm Texas Group has said that it remains confident in the quality of its portfolio despite a revaluation which has seen its value decline by around £11m.

The revaluation is contained in newly-filed accounts for family-owned group, which has a variety of property assets including office, commercial and residential accommodation.

Accounts show that in the year to November 30, 2010, the value of its properties fell to £28.8m from £41.9m a year earlier. Almost £11m of the fall was due to the downward revaluation, but £2.2m was due to the disposal of a building.

Accounts also show a drop in turnover to £3.7m (2009: £4.1m) and a £1.1m pre-tax loss (£503,00 profit), which it blamed on the disposal of a property to another part of the group.

Despite this, director Robin Slinger said that the company remained confident about Texas Group’s future prospects. The company, which has been trading for more than 75 years, is owned by director Mike McDonald and his family and has previously held interests in waste management and demolition businesses but is now focused on the development of its property assets.

“Valuations are what they are,” said Slinger. “We’re obliged to provide revaluations of our properties every four years and that’s what we’ve done.

“We have a strong portfolio of properties and we’re very confident in them. They’re all tenanted, so it’s just an external opinion and over time we’re hopeful they’ll attract a more positive valuation. If anything, our tenant portfolio has strengthened over the last 12 months.”

Among the properties owned by Texas Group are the Southmoor House office block at south Manchester (let to insurance broker CBG Group), Barton Hall Estate in Eccles and more than 50,000 sq ft of office and industrial space at Fairfield House in Accrington.

Slinger said Texas Group was also progressing with work on a residential scheme at Morley in south Leeds after recently revising its planning application to the council. The firm is now set to build 39 apartments and two townhouses on the site.

“We feel there is a niche there we can develop,” he said. “None of the national housebuilders are under way in the area so we feel there’s an opportunity to pursue a good scheme.”

Moreover, it remains in consultation with the local council at Boston in Lincolnshire over its plan to build a 30,000 sq ft retail park.

“Given that it’s a retail scheme you’ve got to be confident that you can find the right anchor tenant, so it’s not one that’s going to be delivered overnight,” he said.

However, market conditions have forced the company to shelve a scheme which would have seen it develop a mixed use project on Bury New Road in Manchester where it was planning to build 126 new residential apartments, with retail units at ground floor level.

“We’ll revisit that in due course. It’s more of a medium-to-long term venture but it’s a site we will retain,” said Slinger.