Leeds-based Town Centre Securities’ push towards a more proactive property management style led to £10m of new acquisitions and £2m of sales in the six months to end-December.
Purchases included the Bathgate Retail Park between Glasgow and Edinburgh, the Portrack Retail Park in Stockton and shop units in St Austell, Ripon and Evesham. Gross revenue is 8.7% up at £14.7m, with pre tax profits 6.5% higher at £5.9m.
Chairman Arnold Ziff says there are encouraging signs of retail rental growth and, with voids remaining static at 8%, there has been organic growth in the underlying portfolio from rent reviews and new lettings.
Plans for an 7,432 sq m (80,000 sq ft) retail warehouse park and 120 canalside homes at Great Ancoats Street near Manchester’s Piccadilly Station were revealed before the half-year end and if planning permission is granted work should begin later this year on what will be TCS’s largest development for some time.
In the half-year under review, work also began on a 411 space multi-storey car park at Criterion Place in Leeds – part of TCS’s proposed expansion into the freehold ownership of carparks, rather than the leasehold market.
EGi News 12/03/98
