Property giant Landsec bets on retail, claiming ‘no slowdown’ in consumer spending
Landsec, the UK’s largest commercial property developer, will shift towards retail property, defying the gloomy mood music by suggesting there is no slowdown in consumer spend.
The FTSE 100 firm commands a property empire in which office rents have soared, as high building cost inflation and interest rates stifle supply, while demand heads through the roof.
But the developer plans to pivot away from office buildings. It intends to scale up its investment in retail property.
“Growing our investment in major retail destinations remains our highest conviction call, given its high income yield and the attractive income growth on offer for the right assets,” the company said in its full-year results.
The developer owns a string of the UK’s biggest shopping destinations, including Bluewater in Kent, Liverpool One and the Westgate in Oxford.
‘No spending slowdown at all’
But Brits’ spending power is on the downturn, as inflation fears caused by the Iran war have added to existing cost-of-living pressures facing Brits.
In April, consumer confidence slumped to a two-year low in April and retail footfall fell by more than 10 per cent.
But Mark Allan, Landsec’s chief executive, said he has not observed this drop-off in consumer spending at his firm’s retail locations.
Landsec’s most recent data shows “strong growth in spending and footfall, so no slowdown at all,” Allan said when announcing the firm’s results.
He continued: “I think that’s largely a function of a concentration of spending into fewer locations rather than being indicative of what’s happening perhaps across the wider market.
“But we see no slowdown in activity there at all, and most importantly for us, no slowdown in leasing demand.”
Total retail sales at Landsec locations are up 6.3 per cent compared to the 1.1 per cent nation-wide average growth recorded by the British Retail Consortium.
Retail ‘most compelling’ investment
Leading brands like Uniqlo, Sephora and those owned by Inditex – which include Zara and Bershka – have opened more stores at Landsec sites than anywhere else, he claimed.
“Retail offers the most compelling returns in terms of existing income and growth potential,” Allan said.
Construction costs for London offices have grown by 41 per cent in the last five years, according to Landsec data.
While both retail and office property have seen rents soar due to tightened supply, Landsec claims its initial income yield from retail is 200 basis points higher than the return on an investment in office property.
The firm said its latest London office development programme is set to complete in the next few months, and it has no plans to invest in new offices.
Last year, Landsec announced plans to reduce its exposure in office property from £6bn to about £4bn but the company has said it will remain heavily invested in its existing office portfolio.
The company notched a pre-tax profit of £346m in the year to March, down 12 per cent from the year before, as rental income grew by five per cent to £562m.
Landsec’s share price jumped by 1.6 per cent on Thursday to 580p, leaving the stock down six per cent in the year so far.