Great Portland Estates achieves record FY leasings

Great Portland Estates stated it signed 460,900 square feet of new lettings since the start of the financial year on 1 April 2021, generating a combined annual rent of £32.5m, with market lettings 9.8% ahead of March 2021's estimated rental value, surpassing its previous record leasing high of £31.8m in 2016 with two months of the financial year still remaining.

The FTSE 250-listed firm stated that since 1 October, it had agreed to 17 new lettings across 102,100 square feet, generating annual rent of £5.5m, and that of the leases that completed, four were for its "Flex" spaces, with the most recent fully fitted and fully managed leases at Pollen House achieving a rent of £210 per square foot, while the largest transaction in the period was at Hanover Square, where it leased the final office at its Medici Courtyard asset to KKR on a co-terminus basis.

GPE added that rent collection for its December quarter was in line with the previous period and that it had extended the maturity date of £400.0m of its environmental, social, and governance-linked revolving credit facility by 12 months to January 2027.

Chief executive Toby Courtauld said: "It is a significant achievement to deliver record leasing in a period marked by such economic and social disruption, which is a testament to both the quality of the spaces we have been delivering and the dedication and hard work of the GPE team.

"Absent a resurgence of the pandemic, our confidence is building for the remainder of 2022, as we expect the combination of economic growth, a return to normal trading conditions and central London's magnetic appeal to be positive for our markets."