London & Associated ‘confident’

London & Associated Properties has expressed confidence in the quality of its assets and their ability to drive rental income through intensive management this year. John Heller, chief executive, said on the announcement of full-year pre-tax losses of £10.7m, down from £21.4m profits last time, that the company had sold almost half its portfolio over the last five years and now retained a core group of quality assets in which it had invested significantly.

“Our top five centres account for almost our entire portfolio by value and these are mostly let on long leases. I therefore remain cautiously optimistic going forward,” he said. Michael Heller, chairman said the specialist shopping centre and retail investor and asset manager’s directly-owned portfolio of shopping centres and other retail property was independently valued at £195m at the end of December compared with £214m the previous year.

On a like-for-like basis the valuation of the portfolio grew by one percent. Rental income last year declined from £17.1m to £16.5m, but grew 2.4 percent on a like-for-like-basis. “We have achieved this increase in sustainable income in spite of selling properties which had a combined annualised rental income of £1.3m per annum”, Michael Heller said.