Express & Star

Value of Merry Hill on the rise

Published
Last updated

The half owner of Brierley Hill's Merry Hill shopping centre has announced a strong set of results for last year.

more

Intu Properties saw revenue rise to £571.6 million from £536.4m with net rental income up eight per cent from £362.6m to £381.8m.

The shopping centres group's pre-tax profit slipped from £593.7m to £513m which was partly down to a lower gain from property valuation due to sale of some assets.

Intu bought its 50 per cent interest in intu Merry Hill from Westfield for £403.8 million two years ago and its interest in the 1.67 million sq ft centre in Brierley Hill with 213 stores is now valued at £448m.

Intu's asset management director Julian Wilkinson described it as a "fantastic asset" and said it had seen 22 new lettings last year, including Smiggle, Kiko, Pandor and Phase Eight. Income from rent had increased by nine per cent and the value of the centre had risen by 10 per cent.

"We also saw £7 million of investment by our tenants at intu Merry Hill in 2015," he added.

"We are about to see the opening of the relocated Top Man/Top Shop in a bigger unit as well."

Mr Wilkinson said over the next few years Intu would focus on improving the tenant mix at Merry Hill.

"We are looking to improve the rents and value and a number of transactions are starting to wash through, many are subject to contract.

"We are actively reviewing the food and beverage part of our portfolio. We aspire to have 11 to 15 per cent food and beverage in each of our super prime assets. We see intu Merry Hill as one of our top four super prime assets along with intu Trafford Centre, intu Lakeside and into Metrocentre," he explained.

Intu invested last year in improving the malls and lighting at the centre, re-surfacing car parks and re-opening the Purple car park next to Sainsbury's and training its staff

The company owns nine of the top 20 UK shopping centres and chief executive David Fischel said: "We are pleased to report a strong set of results for 2015 with a seven per cent increase in underlying earnings per share and a four per cent revaluation surplus taking investment properties to £9.6 billion."

"As economic recovery spreads out from London and the south east to the regions, consumer confidence is positive, driving improved retailer demand for space in our centres at a time when new supply of quality retail space is very limited. Investor interest for prime regional shopping centres remains keen.

"These factors provide a favourable background for our development programme as we look to introduce the next level of leisure concepts. We expect to undertake around £600 million of mixed retail and leisure projects in the next three years in the UK, in particular the intu Watford extension, and commence our major Spanish shopping resort development, intu Costa del Sol," he added.