Merrion visitor numbers jump, defying the retail downturn

The firm said Merrion footfall has increased over the past 12 months and it rose 7 per cent in the final 10 weeks of the year, boosted by new and renewed tenants including the Co-op, Dominos, We are Cow, OKA, Greggs and Whittard.

Edward Ziff, chairman and chief executive of TCS, said Merrion is outperforming rivals because it is not a traditional shopping centre.

"Merrion is a large, mixed use, multi-purpose scheme," he said.

"We've spent a lot of time looking after it very, very carefully. It mirrors roughly the portfolio as a whole. We've got a lot of offices in Merrion, we've got a car park, we've got a hotel."

Just 33 per cent of Merrion is retail, with the flagship Morrisons accounting for a third of this space (11 per cent), which means the other 67 per cent consists of offices, a hotel, leisure and car parking.

Mr Ziff said Merrion is more immune to the retail slowdown than other shopping centres.

"Across the road from Merrion, there are 3,500 student beds being built and the Co-op obviously sees that as an opportunity," he said.

"That is fairly typical of the people we are trying to attract to Merrion - people who are convenience shopping, the stuff that people use every day.

"The bit of retail that's most stressed is the mid-market fashion stuff. We don't have mid-market fashion in Merrion. It's a convenience shopping location."

Asked if he was worried about the coronavirus impact if people start to avoid shopping centres, Mr Ziff said: "Will they avoid shopping centres? Quite possibly. They'll avoid Merrion if they are avoiding Leeds city centre.

"Of course we are worried, but there's not a lot I can do about it. It's way out of our control. "

The plan is to lower the level of retail in TCS' portfolio over the coming years.

"We are not doing it quickly and that's deliberate" said Mr Ziff.

"This year I think retail will fall below 50 per cent for the first time. Hopefully we'll end up with a third consisting of retail and leisure. That could take three to four years."

The Leeds-based firm said underlying earnings rose 19 per cent to £4.4m in the six months to December 31. It made a statutory loss of £200,000 following property writedowns.

Analyst Tom Musson at Liberum said: "Town Centre Securities’ first half results confirm the resilience of its portfolio and the effect of good management of its assets, as it navigates retail valuation pressure.

"The evolution of its portfolio mix toward mixed uses is proving beneficial.

"Like-for-like property values fell 1.2 per cent, which is an outperformance versus the wider market."