British Land doing well in difficult times

The group said the robust performance of its shopping centres reflects the strength of the retail asset base and the quality of the stores within its centres.

Meadowhall signed 43 long-term lettings and renewals over the year to March 31.

The centre said it has improved the overall retail and leisure offer with new retailers such as Boux Avenue, Fashion Rocks, Guess, Lakeland, LK Bennett, L’Occitane, Lush, O’Neill, Phase Eight and Sugacane.

FR by Fashion Rocks is the retail brand launched by international fashion and music event, Fashion Rocks. The new store opened in March on Meadowhall’s Park Lane and is the first store to open in the UK.

The brand has received critical acclaim and has been linked with designers such as Giorgio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana and Vivienne Westwood.

The other new addition is luxury lingerie label Boux Avenue, founded by Theo Phapitis, who opened the store himself in early April.

Since the end of the financial year Meadowhall has also signed up urban accessory brand, Crumpler, and United States fashion icon, VANS. Both are scheduled to open new stores this summer.

Darren Pearce, Meadowhall’s centre director, said: “This year is all about building on the momentum generated during the previous 18 months.

“Meadowhall’s offer has evolved significantly, but these four brands – FR by Fashion Rocks, Boux Avenue, Crumpler, and VANS – are the first of the next stage in the centre’s evolution. Their offer, quality and brand strength is a perfect complement to Meadowhall.”

John Heath, director of Fashion Rocks, added: “There is no better place than Meadowhall to launch FR by Fashion Rocks. The centre is a great success, drawing from a huge catchment area that lacks any real competition, and its management team absolutely understand what it takes to support new, innovative brands such as FR by Fashion Rocks.”

Following a £5m refurbishment of Meadowhall’s House of Fraser, which re-opened at the end of October, the retailer said it has seen a 20 per cent increase in sales.

British Land, which owns Meadowhall alongside London & Stamford, said a £7m refurbishment and extension of the centre’s Oasis food court started in March and is due for completion in October. Restaurants Cafe Rouge, Giraffe, FGI Friday’s and Wagamama have agreed to take space.

At Parkgate Shopping Park in Rotherham, British Land said over 100,000 sq ft was let with space going to Best Buy, Curry’s, PC World, Asda Living and Maplin Electronics.

Yesterday British Land posted improved full-year results and a positive outlook for its core markets, although analysts said rival Land Securities, which owns the White Rose shopping centre in Leeds, looked a better bet.

British Land reported underlying pre-tax profits of £256m for the year to March 31, up 10 per cent on the previous year.

The group reported a 12.5 per cent rise in net asset value per share to 567p, from 504p.

Chief executive Chris Grigg said British Land’s results for the year to March 31 had outperformed, adding that the company is well placed to continue this strong performance.

“Our strong letting performance across our portfolio shows clearly that there is still demand from occupiers for the well-located prime retail and London office assets we provide and we expect this to continue,” he said.

Occupancy at British Land’s shopping centres was 98.5 per cent during the year to March 31, while rental values were 0.7 per cent ahead.

The group said the retail environment became more challenging in the second half of the year as Government austerity measures began to hit.

But Mr Grigg said that British Land is showing “real momentum” and described the company’s retail portfolio as “high quality”.

JP Morgan Cazenove property analyst Harm Meijer said: “These results are strong, but not as strong as Land Securities’ full-year results, but we thought this would be the case.

Evolution Securities analyst John Cahill said British Land was always going find it difficult to surprise the market with positive full-year results, principally because its assets were valued quarterly, unlike Land Securities’ bi-annual valuations.

British Land retained its full-year dividend of 6.5p, bringing the total dividend to 26p.

Food available as well as fashion

In addition to Meadowhall’s 280 shops, the shopping centre is also home to 30 restaurants including Zizzi, Nandos, Pizza Express, Frankie & Benny’s, Handmade Burger Company, Chilango and YO!Sushi.

The group is currently carrying out structural works for the extended Oasis Dining Quarter, which are due to be completed in October. The first new restaurant to be announced is Giraffe.

Meadowhall said it will be business as usual throughout the project with the major works being conducted throughout the night so as not to inconvenience shoppers

The shopping centre has an 11 screen cinema and 12,000 free parking spaces.

For those coming by public transport it is accessible by local and regional buses, trains and Supertram services.

The stores are open seven days a week and stay open until 9pm Monday to Friday.