MORNING NEWS: Favourable occupier market boosts SEGRO

Good morning. Here’s your daily round-up of the latest news and views from EG and a collection of industry-relevant headlines from the nationals. A positive start to the end of the week as both industrial giant SEGRO and advisory giant CBRE give us reasons to be cheerful. Full-year results from SEGRO show an uptick in profit and rises in rental income. The REIT said the  “favourable occupier” market had seen it deliver some £88m in new headline rent commitments in the year ended 31 December, with net rental income up by 12.5% to £587m. Across the pond in the US, CBRE chief Bob Sulentic and finance boss Emma Giamartino were feeling cautiously optimistic on the market after managing to post the firm’s third highest full-year figures, despite a bumpy 2023. And as if that wasn’t reason enough to be cheerful, a new feature from the team at EG – Dealmaker of the Month – is encouraging agents up and down the country to show us just how active the market is. All this morning’s headlines:Favourable occupier market boosts SEGROCBRE “cautiously optimistic” on 2024EG Dealmaker: Knight Frank’s Patrick Matheson on the future of the officeMiddlecap’s real estate boss: the time is nowFormer printing press has 1m sq ft opportunityGPA gets nod for weather centreProperty tycoon recruited “thugs” in row over loft spaceFire safety liabilities to deter investorsDegree for estate agents launchedGove shake up won’t fix property crisis, says housing bossForeign shoppers shun West EndGDP figures show UK slipped into recessionLondon Homes selling twice as slow as Scottish propertiesBarings hands Bulb space back to BL