MORNING NEWS: Losses deepen at Workspace despite rental growth

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 national papers. Losses at Workspace have widened on the back of a property valuation decline, despite growing its rental income. The workspace provider made a loss before tax of £192.8m during the year to 31 March, compared with a £37.5m loss last year. Its property valuation fell by 9.5% to £2.4bn, largely underpinned by a 6.6% decline in the first half. However, net rental income jumped by 8.2% to £126.2m, while occupancy was largely static at 88.1% at the end of March. Henry Boot’s property investment and development arm has secured reserved matters planning consent for a £110m GDV industrial and logistics hub in Walsall. HBD will develop three facilities totalling 464,000 sq ft in the first slice of a 620,000 sq ft project called Spark. The wider Spark development is being delivered in partnership with Walsall Council, Homes England, West Midlands Combined Authority and Black Country LEP. Vantage Data Centers has raised £600m in the first securitisation of data centre assets in the EMEA region.  The transaction includes an additional £100m in unfunded variable funding notes. Led by Barclays and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Nikko Capital Markets, the notes will mainly be used to refinance £480m of debt for two facilities on Vantage’s 148MW Cardiff campus. After LondonMetric Property updated the market on its first annual results since its merger with LXi REIT, chief executive Andrew Jones spoke with EG about the “ruthlessly efficient” strategy that will set the business apart from its large-cap rivals and pave the way for “dividend aristocracy”. And in the nationals, WeWork told The Standard it has completed its lease renegotiations in the UK and Ireland, reducing its portfolio to around 40 offices, from around 50. All of the news from EG, plus a selection of headlines from the nationals:Workspace losses widen as property valuation declinesHBD gets thumbs up for £110m Walsall logistics hubVantage raises £600m in first European data centre securitisationRegal bags Thames Clipper as plans submitted for Orchard WharfHow to boost social mobility in real estateExperts warn office-to-lab spaces risk obsolescenceThe real estate industry must get real about community developmentMajor Peterborough industrial park takes step forwardBurj Khalifa architect plans to create skyscrapers that act as batteriesCortland’s Atlanta HQ searched by FBIBruntwood SciTech’s Union secures Fresh HQ dealLondonMetric boss on shaking up the REIT rankingsCity and Docklands office deals underline occupiers’ shift eastClarion Housing hires regional development boss from MuseBuilt environment stabilises as regional activity picks upCoventry BTR scheme seeks forward funding dealM&G puts Aviva’s York headquarters up for saleASK hands £11.7m to Ziser for Cricklewood BTR schemeCompassRock appoints senior director of operationsCain appoints new lead for European PBSA equity strategyCrisis-hit councils spend up to 50% of budgets on temporary housing (£)Why commercial property values have hit the floor (£)WeWork hopes to turn a corner after ‘painful’ global restructuringCOMMENT: Is the central London commercial property sector due for a rebound?Deutsche Bank Rehires Simon Leopold as a vice chairman (£)Blackstone’s $59bn property trust hit by Starwood fallout (£)