Capital & Regional Properties PLC sees shoppers return but rent collection
Average transaction values have also been higher than the comparable period last year, according to the property firm’s tenants
Capital and Regional Properties PLC () said it has seen shoppers return in numbers to its seven shopping centres but has only collected 34% of rent due in June.
Non-essential stores were allowed to open again from June 15, 2020, and 470 units, or 74% of the total, are now trading, Cap&Reg said, with a further 10% having confirmed dates for re-opening.
Footfall for the week ending June 28, 2020, was only 55% of the equivalent week in 2019, it added, but was double the last week of lockdown.
Average transaction values have also been higher than the comparable period last year, according to its tenants.
The company said it is in discussions over the unpaid rents. Since March, it has only collected 40% of rent due, but added that half the amounts outstanding were with major well-capitalised retailers ‘who have capacity and a clear contractual obligation to pay’.
Cap&Reg added that it intends its indoor ski slope Snozone will be ready to reopen in the fourth quarter depending on government guidance, though it has halted the development of the Hemel Hempstead Leisure development.
At end June, the firm said, it had cash of £81mln and an undrawn revolving credit facility of £15mln, while none of its other loan facilities mature until February 2023.
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