Intu posts £1.17bn losses

Shopping centre owner Intu have suffered a “challenging” year, after suffering a collapse over value in their properties causing annual losses.

The company made £1.17bn loss in 2018, compared to £227.2m pre-tax profit in 2017, the company also had £1.4bn wiped of the value of their property portfolio, to £9.2bn.

The company owns Manchester’s Trafford Centre, and the Metrocentre in Gateshead. The firm has had two failed takeovers in 2018 and seen tough trading conditions for retailers.

A consortium led by John Whittaker’s peel group, pulled out of a £2.8bn offer end of 2018, while Hammerson pulled out of a £3.4bn takeover in April last year.

The outgoing chief executive, David Fischel said, it was a “difficult year for the whole UK retail real estate sector and with very limited comparable transactional evidence, property valuations declined as sentiment weakened significantly.”

Chairman John Strachan said, “Intu has had a challenging year with a difficult retail and uncertain economic environment, together with responding to two abortive corporate offers for the company.

“However, our management team has produced a robust operational performance with increased like-for-like net rental income for the fourth consecutive year, 97% occupancy and signed 248 new long-term leases.”

He added that the group’s “three core objectives for the year ahead are to continue to deliver strong underlying individual centre performance, continue our strategy of adapting to the changing retail environment, and to make smart use of capital”.