Developer making progress on clutch of North West schemes

Developer St Modwen reported a “positive” year today, for the period to November 30, 2018.

Although net rental income fell from £55.8m to £49m, profit attributable to the owners rose to £60.2m, up from £59.6m.

Chief executive Mark Allan said: “2018 has been another positive year for us.

“With £529m of disposals, we made substantial progress on our objective to focus our portfolio on sectors with the best structural growth prospects and reduce our borrowings, whilst we continued to grow housebuilding volumes and industrial and logistics development activity.

“Despite the ongoing uncertainty in the wider UK economy, structural growth drivers in these two key sectors remain positive, so following the significant repositioning over the past 18 months, we are now well placed to deliver a meaningful improvement in our return on capital and earnings in the coming years.”

The company said it has continued to forge ahead with its strategic objectives in the North West.

There has been significant progress on a number of key schemes in the region, including Crosby Village and Skelmersdale town centre, as well the commencement of new projects such as Chamberhall Business Park in Bury.

In Bury, a development agreement was signed with Bury Council to bring forward Chamberhall Business Park.

The employment-led scheme has been granted planning approval and the first phase, which will comprise modern industrial units ranging from 2,500 sq ft to 25,000 sq ft, is moving towards a start on site.

St Modwen’s investment in the refurbishment of the Glenn Buildings North and South and development of 10 Moor Lane in Crosby Village, which completed in March, has been hugely popular with retail, leisure and office space let to a range of local and national businesses.

In Skelmersdale, St Modwen has moved forward with the first phase of development proposals to extend the town centre after West Lancashire Borough Council secured £19m funding for the scheme, which includes a new retail park and improvements to the public realm.

Lidl has been secured as the retail anchor alongside a 20,000 sq ft B&M store.

In Kirkby, on Merseyside, demolition and enabling works were completed to prepare the site for construction of the new Morrisons and 76,000 sq ft of additional retail space.

Additional occupiers for the new retail development were also secured with Home Bargains and KFC committing to the scheme.

Alongside this, St Modwen continued to execute asset management initiatives in the existing centre, which has seen recent lettings to Specsavers, Costa Coffee and a new public house, together with the lease renewals by several existing retailers.

Guy Gusterson, property director Midlands and North, said: “We have made some significant progress across the North West region in the past year.

“We have some strategic sites across the region and it is encouraging to see progress at this rate.

“Industrial and logistics is now the largest segment of our national income portfolio and this is reflected in the region as we move forward with the next phase of Stonebridge Business Park, 50,000sq ft of speculatively-built industrial warehouse space called Stonebridge 52 in Liverpool.”

He added: “Placemaking and regeneration is at the heart of our purpose and all that we do; our expertise in regeneration sets us apart from our competitors in delivering our commercial and residential schemes, as well as our key development projects.”

St Modwen has a portfolio valued at more than £1.4bn, and has a regional office in Warrington.