Grosvenor's strong recovery boosted by improving retail scene

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
May 23, 2022

Grosvenor has delivered a significant improvement in its financial performance in the latest year. The group owns vast tracts of land in key area like London’s Mayfair, as well as the Liverpool One mall and multiple international properties.

The UK commercial property giant joined its peers in reporting the improvement, albeit in the face of only a “partial” recovery in economic conditions.
 
Revenue profit from "urban property activities” jumped to £99.7 million for the year ended 31 December from £39.7m in 2020, resulting in a total return of +5.2% from a negative return in the prior year, “underlining a strong recovery”.

Its UK and European performance recovered “with improved rent collections… but valuations remained subdued as central London grappled with the impacts of Covid”. It noted trading conditions were “more challenging in Asia, where Covid-related restrictions proved most stringent and enduring”.
 
Grosvenor said its international property business will focus on “leading UK and North American cities” while it plans to “significantly” expand its “third-party co-investment model to further pursue diversification around the world”. 
 
CEO Mark Preston said: “Despite ongoing restrictions and lockdowns remaining a feature across our markets, decisive action in response, coupled with an improving economic environment, helped us achieve a significantly improved financial performance compared to the previous year.
 
“This reignited activity went hand in hand with a continued commitment to supporting and finding new ways to help our tenants.”.
 
On the eco front, he added that Grosvenor “made good progress towards reducing our carbon emissions to achieve net zero in our directly managed operations by 2030 and to be fully net zero by 2050. We are now well advanced with completing a baseline audit of our carbon emissions across our diverse activities.
 
“Our improved performance was largely driven by trading profits and strong valuation performance in North America and in our Diversified Property Investments business, with valuations particularly strong in the logistics sector.  UK and European performance recovered with improved rent collections, but valuations remained subdued as central London grappled with the impacts of Covid.”
 
And the future? Preston added: “While we are optimistic about the western world’s economic rebound from the pandemic, the economic threats posed by the war in Ukraine, high inflation, high levels of debt and slowing growth in China make us cautious about the general outlook.”