Market Tech Holdings sees Camden Market empire jump in value to £870m
Camden Market owner Market Tech Holdings said its sprawling 14-acre north London estate has jumped by 15 per cent in value, in its first set of half-year results since floating on Aim in December last year.
The company, which is now eyeing a move to London’s main market, said its total investment and property portfolio is now worth £866.7m thanks to strong uplifts at Camden Lock Market and Union Street Market, up by 19.3 per cent and 11.3 per cent respectively.
Revenue in the six months to 30 September totalled £62.2m, of which £13.8m came from its property assets and £48.4m derived from its digital business. Meanwhile its rental income rose by 6.8 per cent to £28.3m.
Market Tech was founded by Israeli billionaire and Playtech founder Teddy Sagi and has amassed up 14 acres of land around Camden in less than two years, bringing the area’s iconic markets under one roof for the first time.
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The company, which is run by chief executive Charles Butler, has also made a string of technology acquisitions and rebranded its website to create a global online market place for Camden’s 1,000 independent retailers and stallholders.
Butler wouldn’t comment on how many businesses have signed up to showcase their brand on the website, but insisted the uptake has been “good” and the feedback “positive”, despite fears that stallholders may oppose would could be seen as a further gentrification of the market.
He said the recent launch of its first co-working office spaces, called the Interchange, inside Stables Market was attracting a host of tech and creative firms to the neighbourhood as the company looks to turn the markets into a vibrant hub with room for 1,000 workers.
In the period, Market Tech raised £197m of new equity to fund its expansion and spent £75m on two property acquisitions for £50m including Utopia Village, a former Piano factory-turned-office building in Primrose Hill, and 1-11 Hawley Crescent, a mixed residential and office block.
It has also snapped up Stucco Media, an e-commerce marketing company £34.5m.
Work is currently underway to turn Hawley Wharf into a new site called Camden Lock Village, that will incorporate commercial and retail space alongside modern housing and a new primary school. The company said it received the final piece of planning consent in the period and expects the school to be completed next September, with the rest completing by March 2018.