Town Centre Securities submits applications for a 500 unit build to rent scheme in Leeds

Leeds-based Town Centre Securities, which has announced its audited final results for the year ended June 30 2022, is a property investment, development, hotel and car parking company.

Over the year, the company reported a statutory profit before tax of £11.0m and statutory earnings per share of 20.9p.

In April 2022, TCS submitted a masterplan for Whitehall Riverside in Leeds in conjunction with Glenbrook. The plan includes detailed planning applications for a 500 unit ‘Build to Rent’ scheme; a 12-storey office building; a 478-space multi-storey car park and an outline for further hotel and office buildings on the remainder of the site.

Commenting on the results, chairman and chief executive Edward Ziff, said: “It has been another year of recovery for the business, with robust rent collection and significant improvements in both our car park and hotel operations.

"Further successes after the year end, including the significantly accretive sale of our investment in YourParkingSpace (YPS), have helped to further reset TCS’s financial position and enabled shareholders to benefit from this uplift, with the completion of a tender offer for 4 million of the company’s own shares.

"Further development site sales, will enable us to continue to strengthen the balance sheet through lowering our level of absolute debt and leverage, whilst also investing in our exciting development pipeline.”

“Looking forward, the Russia‐Ukraine conflict and the unpredictability resulting from the situation has led to inflationary and other economic pressures on our business and those of our tenants including changes to consumer spending, increased property and other expenses, interest rate rises, a weakening sterling exchange rate, increased construction costs and rent affordability.”

“Against this background, we remain focused on enhancing value for our shareholders and continue to consider further opportunistic disposals, the proceeds of which will be used to reduce debt.

"Unless there are acquisitions offering significant opportunities to increase value we are not envisaging any further property investments until there is stability in the real estate sector and wider economy.”

“Overall, we remain committed to continuing to reset and reinvigorate TCS by delivering on our accelerated four pillar strategy of: actively managing our assets, maximising available capital, investing in our development pipeline and acquiring and improving investment assets to diversify our portfolio."