Capital Shopping Centres produces robust performance
Capital Shopping Centres today said it had seen continued demand from international retailers and strong brands for retail space in its shopping malls, as it reported a vacancy rate of 3% and a 2% increase in footfall at its centres in the first ten months of this year.
The group cautioned that the economic environment remained weak, saying it continued to expect low growth, “a challenging retail market” and restricted financing for property in the UK for some time to come. However, it said that prime retail destinations offering a full range of comparison retail and “a broad leisure and catering experience”, such as its own malls, had continued to perform robustly. “We believe CSC is well placed to benefit from the structural change in UK retail being driven by economic headwinds and changing consumer behaviour and technologies,” the company said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.
The company signed 56 new long-term leases during the most recent quarter, generating £9m in new rent, which CSC says is an increase of £3m from previous passing rent and in aggregate at 90% of ERV. For the year to date the group has agreed 136 lettings, an increase of £7m, at 95% of ERV.
Of the 2,300 units in CSC’s malls, seven were affected by tenant failures in the quarter (0.2% of rent). For the year to date, the figure is 68 units, or 2% of rent. This compares with 46 units for the whole of 2010, or 1% of rent. CSC had 243 short-term leases as of the end of September, representing 3% of passing rent.
