REG - Great Portland Ests. - Strong Q4; GPE Record Leasing: £71m Let +10% ERV

Great Portland EstatesAnnouncement

Today 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
https://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20260415:nRSO4764Aa&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 4764A  Great Portland Estates PLC  15 April 2026

 

15 April 2026

 

Strong Q4; Record leasing year with £71 million let, 10.3% ahead of ERV

Great Portland Estates plc (GPE) publishes a trading update for the quarter to
31 March 2026.

Excellent final quarter leasing delivers record leasing year; outperforming
ERVs by 10.3%

·     28 new leases and renewals signed in the quarter, generating
annual rent of £24.4 million (our share: £23.8 million), with market
lettings on average 15.8% ahead of March 2025 ERV; including

o   20 Fully Managed leases signed, generating £14.6 million of rent roll
at an average £233 per sq ft; 8.6% ahead of March 2025 ERV;

o   five Fitted leases signed, generating £1.6 million of rent roll, with
market lettings 7.2% ahead of the March 2025 ERV; and

o   one significant pre let signed, 52,300 sq ft to Quantexa at Minerva
House, SE1, significantly ahead of March 2025 ERV (see below).

·       Seven rent reviews settled in quarter, including with KKR and
Glencore at Hanover Square, W1. In total these were settled 49% ahead of the
previous passing rent and 11.1% ahead of the valuers ERV at review date;

·       In total, 88 new leases and renewals signed in the year
generating annual rent of £70.9 million (our share: £69.6 million), with
market lettings on average 10.3% ahead of March 2025 ERV; and

·       We have a further £6.4 million of rent under offer, with
market lettings 7.9% ahead of March 2025 ERV.

 

Toby Courtauld, Chief Executive, said: "Despite a volatile macroeconomic
backdrop, this has been an excellent finish to the year. We signed £24.4
million of leases in the quarter and delivered a record £70.9 million of
deals for the year, 10.3% ahead of ERV, reflecting the strength of demand for
high quality, well located space and the momentum in our Fully Managed offer.
Alongside this, we completed our largest office development to date at 2
Aldermanbury Square, which is 100% pre let, and progressed our capital
recycling bringing sales to some £490 million, 2% ahead of March 2025 book
value, reinvesting the proceeds into new West End refurbishment opportunities
at a significant discount. Looking forward, we have further leasing under
offer and a strong pipeline of new space in production, and so we start the
new financial year with positive momentum."

Leasing highlights in the quarter

In February, we announced the pre‑let of 52,300 sq ft at The Delft, SE1
(formerly Minerva House) to Quantexa, a global data, analytics and AI software
company pioneering decision intelligence technology. Quantexa has agreed a
10‑year lease, occupying the ground floor east, first floor east and the
fifth, sixth and seventh floors. Occupying a prominent island site moments
from London Bridge station and Borough Market, The Delft will deliver 143,100
sq ft of best‑in‑class HQ workspace in spring 2027, with all office floors
benefiting from extensive River Thames frontage and a 6,000 sq ft communal
roof terrace.

Demand for our Fully Managed spaces in prime locations remains strong. In
March, we let the final remaining office space at SIX St Andrew Street, EC4,
completing leasing at the Fully Managed development. The third and fourth
floors, totalling 11,680 sq ft, have been let to an AI-led company. The
building is now fully occupied, generating £8.8 million of annual rent at an
average of £200 per sq ft, 6.2% ahead of ERV, delivering a 6.2% yield on
cost.

The largest retail letting in the quarter was at Kent House, W1, where we
completed the 14,800 sq ft regear across the ground and basement floors to
Reiss Limited. A long‑standing customer of more than 25 years, Reiss has
agreed a new 10‑year lease with a break at five years.

Strong operational quarter concludes a successful year

In March, we completed the landmark development at 2 Aldermanbury Square,
delivering 321,650 sq ft of premium HQ grade workspace in the heart of the
City of London. Designed in 2019 and delivered on time and on budget, the 13
storey building provides a double height reception, flexible floorplates, a
landscaped roof terrace and enhanced public realm, including the new
Basinghall Walk, with excellent connectivity to Moorgate, Liverpool Street and
Bank. With the building now complete, Clifford Chance, which pre let all the
offices, has taken occupation to begin its fit out.

Also in March, we completed a new headlease and development agreement with The
trustees of the Evelyn Estate, to refurbish 7/15 Gresse Street and 12/13
Rathbone Place, W1. The new headlease extends the term by 20 years, pushing
expiry to 2148, while the development agreement provides consent to convert
the space to our growing Fully Managed offer.

The buildings will provide 42,800 sq ft of Fully Managed workspace across five
floors and form part of GPE's growing Flex offer, which now totals 654,000 sq
ft. Collectively the buildings will also be rebranded as The Howlett, a nod to
their history as a former warehouse for bootmaker 'Howlett & White' and
reflecting the area's longstanding heritage in fashion and textile
manufacturing.

Two sales completed

We completed the sale of wells&more, W1 to Feldberg Capital on behalf of
Fastighets AB Balder for a headline price of £172 million. At a 5.0% net
initial yield and £1,483 per sq ft, the price was marginally ahead of the
September 2025 book value and around 5% ahead of March 2025. The freehold
property occupies a prominent corner position on Wells Street and Mortimer
Street in the heart of Fitzrovia.

Also in March, we completed the sale of the 53‑year short leasehold interest
in 103/113 Regent Street, W1, to a private client of JLL. Held in our Great
Ropemaker Partnership, a 50:50 joint venture managed by GPE, we achieved a
headline price of £52 million. The price is marginally behind the March 2025
book value and reflects a 7.2% net initial yield and a capital value of £912
per sq ft.

These latest disposals bring our total sales in the financial year to £490
million, 2% in aggregate ahead of the respective March 2025 book values.

Full year results announcement

GPE will announce its full year results on 21 May 2026, with the results
presentation available on our website from 10.00am. www.gpe.co.uk/investors
(http://www.gpe.co.uk/investors) .

 Great Portland Estates plc                                                                                                                                         +44                                   (0)                                   20                                    7647                                       3000
 Toby Courtauld, Chief Executive
 Jayne Cottam, Chief Financial Officer
 Stephen Burrows, Director of Investor Relations and Joint Director of Finance

 Yasemin Kiani, Senior Communications Lead

 FGS Global                                                                                                                                                         +44                                   (0)                                   20                                    7251                                       3801
 James
 Murgatroyd
 Gordon
 Simpson

 

For further information see www.gpe.co.uk or follow us on X at @GPE_London

LEI Number: 213800JMEDD2Q4N1MC42

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  TSTGPUPUCUPQGRC



            Copyright 2019 Regulatory News Service, all rights reserved