Despite the tough environment, Bristol’s biggest shopping centre has continued to see an increase in sales and customers.
Cabot Circus opened in the autumn of 2008, just as the recession was getting under way in earnest, but has still managed to help propel Bristol into the top table of the UK’s retail market.
Land Securities, the property firm which owns the £500 million shopping centre, published its annual results, and it came as no surprise that the figures made for some sober reading.
The firm’s property portfolio is now valued at £10.3 billion, a two per cent increase on last year, but its profit before tax was down by more than 50 per cent to £515 million.
Revenue profit, a measure of the group’s cash generation ability, rose nine per cent to £299.4 million.
Chief executive Robert Noel, who recently took over at the firm, has admitted that the property market is still struggling to recover.
He said: “The world has changed as the eurozone contagion started to spread last summer and it hasn’t really started to recover from that point.”
Despite the downbeat view Mr Noel still believes the property firm is still set “absolutely perfectly” to deal with the tougher new environment of the property market.
He said: “There is an increasing realisation that we are not in a growth economy and that it is a fairly boring time
“But we have got our loan-to-value right down, we have got great interest in the buildings we have in development, and our balance sheet is bullet-proof. The only way we can grow right now is by taking on a bit more risk.”
However, locally the outlook appears to be a lot more healthy.
Kevin Duffy, centre director of Cabot Circus, said: “Cabot Circus has continued to perform well in 2012 and we remain positive about the future.
“Our tenants have reported an increase in sales this year; a notable achievement against a backdrop of continued economic uncertainty.”
He added “The number of people using our car park has also risen.
“As we move into the summer season, we expect to see footfall increase in Quakers Friars in particular as a result of our events programme, which will see a giant outdoor screen in the area for Wimbledon and the Olympics, a free food festival and weekly fresh produce market.
“In line with the national picture, we are seeing demand from potential tenants looking for quality retail space in the South West and there is active interest in all of our vacant units.”
As one of the UK’s largest retail landlords Land Securities has had to work hard to deal with what can only be described as a challenging market.
He said: “The retail sector is undergoing one of the most dramatic structural reforms in a generation and it is changing the way people shop.
“Shoppers are becoming more focused on malls which offer restaurants, cinemas and entertainment.
“The market has stopped growing so you need to work harder just to maintain the same momentum as before.”
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