PAG confident despite profit drop
MANCHESTER landlord and developer the Property Alliance Group is confident on the back of strong rental returns.
The group, founded by David Russell in 2003, has a portfolio of office and industrial buildings around Manchester and the North West which includes the Freetrade Exchange on Peter Street, 340 Deansgate, and the Towers business park in Didsbury in a joint venture with Moorfield Group.
Newly-filed accounts for the year to the end of June the group saw revenues fall by £8.5m to £17m which the company said was down to income from a Premier Inn hotel project in Dale Street, Manchester, being included in the prior year.
Rental income grew by 3% to £12.4m and pre-tax profits slipped 6% to £1.6m.
The portfolio was valued at £174.6m in June, up nearly 2% from £171.5m a year earlier.
Following the year-end it also sold half of its shares in the construction group Russells, which is run by David Russell’s nephews Andrew and Gareth, leaving it with 33%. The deal enabled Andrew and Gareth to add to their stakes and they now hold a third each.
In their report the directors said: “We continue the high occupancy levels by focusing on tenant retention and satisfaction.”
They added: “External economic factors are influencing the property market but our strong tenant profile, rent roll and the support of our banking partners enables us to continue with our cautious approach to maintaining our current investment portfolio.”
PAG has bank loans of £72.9m which it believes will be renewed by the time they expire in June.
