Commercial landlord Segro bucks trend to collect majority of rent owed in 2020
Commercial landlord Segro has bucked the current trend to collect almost all of the rent due last year, as its out-of-town business property assets proved to be resilient during the pandemic.
The real estate investment trust (Reit) said it had collected 98 per cent of the £417m owed in 2020.
Segro has also received 88 per cent of the £63m of UK rents payable in advance for the first quarter of this year, with outstanding payments expected to be collected by the end of the three-month period.
The strong performance is in contrast with many other commercial landlords and demonstrates the resilience of Segro’s property portfolio, which is focused on warehouses and industrial properties.
Those real estate assets have performed more strongly during the coronavirus pandemic compared to retail and leisure properties.
Property firms that are more exposed to the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors have struggled to collect rent owed throughout the Covid-19 crisis.
London landlord Great Portland Estates yesterday reported that it had collected 84 per cent from office occupiers but just 35 per cent from retail, hospitality and leisure tenants, as those sectors have been the hardest hit by the current lockdown restrictions.
Landsec – the UK’s largest commercial property development and investment firm – collected just 65 per cent of the £112m due in December, compared to a rate of 94 per cent in 2019.
Meanwhile, Derwent London said on Tuesday that it collected only 26 per cent of the rent it is owed last month by its retail and hospitality occupants amid a backlog of payments.