Intu Properties full-year profit, NAV rise

FTSE 250 shopping centre operator Intu Properties - which announced a £3.4bn merger with Hammerson back in December - posted a rise in profit for the year on Thursday as like-for-like net rental income grew for the third successive year.

In the year to the end of December 2017, pre-tax profit increased to £227.2m from £188.3m, as LFL net rental rose 0.5%. However this was down from a 1.8% increase in 2016 and a 3.6% jump in 2016.

Net rental income was up £13m to £460m, thanks in part to acquisitions in 2016 and 2017, and net asset value per share pushed up to 411p from 404p in 2016.

Occupancy was stable during the year at 96.1%. Intu signed 217 long-term leases, up from 214 the year before, with 179 in the UK and 38 in Spain. These delivered £38m of annual rent at an average of 7% above the previous passing rent.

Meanwhile, footfall was up 0.1%, outperforming the national ShopperTrak retail average, which fell by 2.8%.

The company reiterated its guidance to deliver medium-term LFL net rental income growth of 2% to 3% a year over the next three to five years. In 2018, it expects this to be in the range of 1.5% to 2.5%, subject to no material tenant failures.

Chief executive David Fischel said: "The underlying strengths of the Intu business were much in evidence in 2017 as we recorded a robust overall performance, confounding the external gloom and negativity in pre-Brexit UK about retail and retail property.

"These results are an endorsement of the underlying strength of the Intu business. Our active asset management, repositioning of the portfolio, investment in our centres and brand in recent years have put Intu in a strong position to mitigate the continuing challenging business environment. Because of this, we remain confident in our future prospects and our ability to deliver further like-for-like rental growth in the year ahead."

At 1010 GMT, the shares were down 0.8% to 211.60p.