Derwent London signs up Capita to Copyright Building after year of record lettings
Derwent London said has struck a deal to let an entire office building in London's West End to professional services firm Capita as it posted a strong set of full-year results.
The FTSE 250 developer said Capita has agreed to pre-let 87,150 square feet of office space at The Copyright Building on Berners Street more than a year ahead of completion, in a major coup for the company.
The deal comes after a year of record lettings for Derwent, spanning 523,800 sq ft and totalling £27.1m of rent per year. The surge in lettings helped drive a 21.6 per cent jump in net asset value (NAV) to 3,535p per share in the year to 31 December while net rental income rose by 7.8 per cent to £138.7m.
The company completed 226,000 sq ft of developments last year and now has four schemes underway totalling 728,000 sq ft. Its vast White Collar Factory scheme at Old Street roundabout, aimed a tech and creative firms, is 38 per cent pre-let and is due to be completed later this year.
Chief executive John Burns said that tenant demand remained strong and that Derwent London was well placed for growth for this year despite uncertainty over whether or not Britain will choose to stay within the EU in June's referendum.
"There will be a bit of uncertainty surrounding the referendum. However, we have only two per cent of tenants in the financial industries and those are the ones that might take it seriously," Burns told Morning Wire
He added: "We recognise that London property cannot be immune from the economic and political issues causing global stock market volatility. However, we have a strong financial position and the current year has started well for our business as evidenced by today’s announcements.”
Derwent's share price rose by two per cent as the company hiked its final dividend by 10 per cent to 30.80p per share on the back of the strong results.