British Land boosted by reopening of retail stores
Real estate firm British Land has reported strong sales as lockdown restrictions on non-essential retail started to ease earlier this month.
The pandemic seems to have had little effect on consumer confidence. In the week commencing 14 June, when restrictions started to ease, British Land reported footfall at its English assets was 64 per cent of the level achieved in the same week last year.
Additionally, like-for-like retail sales for open shops was 91 per cent of the same week last year.
As of yesterday, 894 of British Land’s stores in England were open – 64 per cent of the total. While half of Scottish stores were open and 43 stores in Wales were open.
Physical occupancy of British Land’s London campuses and office buildings remains low, despite remaining open throughout the pandemic. The firm said it was working on plans to enable a safe return to work.
As such, British Land still anticipates open air retail parks to perform an “important role in retailers’ reopening strategies”.
The property business also reported encouraging rent collection figures for the quarter. As of 26 June, British Land had reportedly collected 88 per cent of rent for its office buildings and 36 per cent in retail.
However, last month the firm said its full year results had been hit by a slowdown in rent payments in March, as it posted a £1.1bn loss.
Last week, figures showed British retailers had paid just 13.8 per cent of their rent for the last quarter. It indicates the rising pressure on both tenants and landlords during the coronavirus crisis.
Indeed, British Land’s strong showing is in stark contrast to retail landlord Intu, which fell into administration last week after failing to raise new capital.
Intu had suffered from retailers being unable to pay rent during the lockdown, but it had high levels of debt prior to the crisis.
British Land has put arrangements in place for its smaller, independent tenants. It said it had agreed rental waivers of £3m in relation to the second quarter, adding to the £2m during the first quarter.
“We are holding productive discussions with larger retail and leisure operators who have been disproportionately affected by lockdown,” the firm added.