Delivering our growth strategy
The Directors of Great Portland Estates plc announce the results for the Group for the six months ended 30 September 20251, with highlights including:
We have delivered another period of strong operational performance across our prime central London portfolio, leasing more in the first half than in all of last year, driving up both our rents and our property values. It has been clear to us for a number of years that customers are choosing the best spaces in vibrant central London locations over the rest and this structural theme is as relevant today as ever; our leasing success and our 76% customer retention rate are a direct consequence of the premium quality of the HQ and Fully Managed spaces we create and the service offered by our award-winning customer experience team.
From here, we expect London’s economy to continue outperforming the UK overall. Our prime located 1 million sq ft development and refurbishment programme is already attracting significant interest from prospective customers with more than £10m under offer at a 30% premium to ERV and will generate further valuation surpluses of up to £520 million. We will continue adding to our pipeline through acquisition, and profitably exiting completed business plans, all the while maintaining high liquidity and low leverage. We expect our growth strategy to generate attractive shareholder returns with a prospective 10%+ annualised return on equity and three-fold increase in EPRA EPS over the medium term.
Delivering exceptional customer experience and leasing; £37.6 million, 7.1% ahead of ERV2; rent roll up 29%3
- 43 new leases and renewals generating annual rent of £37.6 million p.a.; 7.1% above March 2025 ERV
- Rent roll up 29%3 over last twelve months with organic growth potential of 142%
- Further £10.3 million of lettings under offer, 30.9% above March 2025 ERV
- Like for like rental income growth of 5.0% compared to same period last year
- Rental growth guidance of 4.0% to 7.0% for FY26 reiterated; prime offices stronger still at 6.0% to 10.0%
- Two internal promotions to Executive Committee to elevate strategic focus on Flex and customer experience
Successful capital recycling; £292 million of sales ahead of book value
- Two disposals for £292 million, 1.7% ahead of March 25 book value including:
- 1 Newman Street, W1 sold in October for £250 million; 4.48% NIY; £2,075 capital value psf
- One acquisition; The Gable, WC1 £18.0 million, adding to our West End cluster, only £409 capital value psf
Significant progress across development and refurbishment programme
- Planning secured for three major schemes at St Thomas Yard, SE1, 7/15 Gresse Street, W1 and Whittington House, WC1 (351,700 sq ft)
- Good progress at six on-site development and refurbishment schemes, £290 million capex to come
- Three on-site HQ schemes now 71% pre-let including CD&R letting; further space under offer
- Two Fully Managed deliveries in period; strong leasing progress including 141 Wardour St, W1 already fully let
- Further four pipeline HQ schemes, starts imminent; total capex £392 million
- Combined expected surplus of £179 million, assuming current rents and yields, and allowances for construction cost inflation; £308 million with 10% rental growth
Valuation up 1.5%3; EPRA5 NTA per share of 504 pence; EPRA EPS up 69.6%
- Portfolio valuation of £3.1 billion, up 1.5%4; +1.8% offices (inc. Fully Managed +1.8%); developments +6.1%
- Rental values up by 2.6%4 (2.7% offices (3.5% Fully Managed) & 1.9% retail); yield expansion of 3 bp
- IFRS NAV and EPRA5 NTA per share of 504 pence, up 2.0% since March 2025
- IFRS profit after tax of £58.9 million; interim dividend maintained at £11.7 million (2.9 pence per share)
- EPRA5 earnings £15.7 million, EPRA5 EPS 3.9 pence, up 69.6%
- ROE of 7.5% over last 12 months with prospective >10% ROE CAGR into medium term
Significant liquidity; new £525 million and pro forma LTV 28.2%6
- New five year £525 million RCF signed in October, headline margin 105 bps over SONIA
- GPE’s Baa2 long-term issuer rating confirmed by Moody’s Ratings
- Pro forma EPRA LTV 28.2%5, cash & undrawn facilities £462 million6 ; weighted avg. debt maturity of 5.9 years6
1 All values include share of joint ventures unless otherwise stated 2 Leasing in period to 30 September 2025 3 Pro forma for sale of 1 Newman Street, W1, last twelve months 4 On a like-for-like basis 5 In accordance with EPRA guidance. We prepare our financial statements using IFRS, however we also use a number of adjusted measures in assessing and managing the performance of the business. These include like-for-like figures to aid in the comparability of the underlying business and proportionately consolidated measures, which represent the Group’s gross share of joint ventures rather than the net equity accounted presentation included in the IFRS financial statements. These metrics have been disclosed as management review and monitor performance of the business on this basis. We have also included a number of measures defined by EPRA, which are designed to enhance transparency and comparability across the European Real Estate sector, see note 8 to the financial statements. Our primary NAV metric is EPRA NTA which we consider to be the most relevant investor measure for the Group. 6 Pro forma for sale of 1 Newman Street, W1 and debt refinancing activity
