Profit, rent and sales all up across intu portfolio
Intu Properties has reported what may well be its final set of results, covering the year ended 31 December 2017. And it is bowing out on a high with an increased profit for the year of £203m (2016: £172m), driven largely by a property revaluation surplus of £47m. Like-for-like net rental income grew by 0.5 per cent, a third year of consecutive growth, including a strong recovery in the second half of +2.4 per cent.
The company signed 217 long-term leases in the UK and Spain, showing that retailers and leisure operators continue to gravitate towards prime, high footfall destinations. And intu’s malls significantly outperformed the national benchmark in terms of footfall, with 400 million visits a year increasing by 0.1 per cent compared against a -2.8 per cent fall in the national ShopperTrak retail average. Occupancy was stable at 96.1 per cent.
Outgoing CEO David Fischel said: “These results are an endorsement of the underlying strength of the intu business. Our active asset management, repositioning of the portfolio, investment in our centres and brand in recent years have put intu in a strong position to mitigate the continuing challenging business environment. Because of this, we remain confident in our future prospects and our ability to deliver further like-for-like rental growth in the year ahead.”
