Her Majesty’s pleasure: Wind farm windfall sends Crown Estate value soaring
A raft of new wind farms has sent the value of the Queen’s property holdings up 7.5 per cent over the last year, the Crown Estate announced today.
The portfolio, which comprises London’s Regent Street, the seabed and half of the foreshore around England and Wales, is now worth £14.4bn.
The marine division saw its value increase £2.1bn over the last year, largely due to the latest leasing round for securing seabed rights for building wind farms.
A bunch of firms keen to underline their environmental credentials, including oil giant BP, paid astronomical amounts for the new leases.
Dan Labbad, chief executive of The Crown Estate said: “Whilst the challenges posed by the pandemic and associated economic impacts are clear to see in our results, drawing on a diverse portfolio we have continued to demonstrate both our strength and resilience, contributing £3bn to the public purse over the last ten years and building a portfolio valued at over £14 billion.
“What the pandemic has thrown into sharp relief is that challenge and uncertainty are the new normal and there is no doubt we will face another difficult year ahead, but with the progress of the vaccination programme and our collective resilience as a society, there is reason to be cautiously optimistic.”
Despite a 12 month return of 11.9 per cent, way above the average of -2.9 per cent, revenue fell 20 per cent over the year to £269.3m.
The decline has largely been driven by lower rental collection and necessary case-by-case support agreed to assist customers through the pandemic, the Crown Estate said.
The fall in earnings will see the Treasury, which collects all of the Crown Estate’s profit, lose out on some earnings.