Under the rug: inside the Carpetright collapse

More than 230 stores across the UK and the Republic of Ireland were left vacant when Carpetright collapsed into administration last month, with just 54 stores and two warehouses rescued by rival retailer Tapi in a pre-pack deal. Administrators at PwC have appointed CBRE to offload some 239 Carpetright properties, with a swift deadline to sell the assets and raise cash for creditors. The agent is seeking offers for the leaseholds on individual sites or for portfolios of stores. Here, EG takes a look at the stores left without a tenant, what the collapse means for towns and cities across the UK and which landlords have the biggest exposure to the retailer. Together, the Carpetright assets comprise some 2.5m sq ft of floorspace and represent more than £38m of contracted rent. Stores are spread across the UK, with a concentration in the south. The largest property in the portfolio is the retailer’s 491,000 sq ft Nestware House HQ and warehouse in Purfleet, Essex. Carpetright was paying just over £4.7m in annual rent on the building, on a lease expiring in summer 2032. According to EG Radius data, the property is owned by Blackstone, which paid Abrdn £143m for the freehold asset in late 2021. According to EG analysis, the portfolio comprises more than 130 individual landlords, with Columbia Threadneedle, M&G, the Crown Estate, Landsec and British Land having some of the highest exposure in terms of retail store count. When it comes to retail rental exposure, Columbia Threadneedle takes the biggest hit, with £675,792 of annual rent secured against its owned Carpetright assets. It is followed by M&G with £465,425, and the Crown Estate with £437,500.   Retail park locations make up the bulk of the 239-strong in-administration portfolio, with 177 stores now being sold by CBRE. Together, those assets cover 1.6m sq ft and provide an annual income of £27.9m, equating to an average rent of £17.44 per sq ft. Stand-alone stores are the next biggest group by footprint, occupying some 177,532 sq ft of space across 13 locations. These stores provide an annual rent of £1.3m, or an average of £7.32 per sq ft. High street stores total 15 assets with a footprint of 63,606 sq ft and annual rental income of £1m, or £15.72 per sq ft on average. Carpetright also had 19 concessions covering 35,507 sq ft, paying an annual rent of £1m. The firm’s warehouse portfolio – excluding two saved distribution units in Croydon and Chessington and the warehouse space at Carpetright’s Purfleet HQ – totals 62,543 sq ft across 14 sites. Rent across the 14 assets totals £607,315 per annum, or an average of £9.71 per sq ft. In the Republic of Ireland, Carpetright had seven stores spanning 61,178 sq ft on which it paid £1.6m per annum in rent.   Photo by Dimitris Legakis/Athena Pictures/Shutterstock (14595549g)