British Land reports collecting less than half of December retail rent

Shopping centre owner British Land had collected just 46 percent of its December retail rent, as of January 7.

In a statement, British Land, which owns the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield and Ealing Broadway shopping centre in London and Drake Circus in Plymouth, said that December rent collections were “broadly in line with the collection rates at the same point in the previous quarter,” and it did expect collection rates to improve over the coming weeks.

Across its business it said that it has collected 86 million pounds of rent was due for payment in the December quarter, comprising of 42 million pounds in retail and 44 million pounds in offices, before taking account of adjustments made in support of its customers as a result of Covid-19.

In Retail, rent collection levels for previous quarters in 2020 have continued to increase, with British Land reporting that it has collected 72 percent of September rent, 73 percent of June rent and 49 percent of March rent, with March collection being lower due to 27 percent of deferrals provided.

British Land also revealed that footfall across its portfolio, from November 30 to December 26, 2020, was 76 percent of the level achieved in the previous year. Like-for-like retailer sales for stores that were open were 81 percent, compared to 2019.

The property company added that its “well located, open air retail parks have continued to play an important role for retailers,” with footfall 87 percent of the same period last year, with retailer sales for stores on its retail parks around 85 percent, compared to the same period in 2019.

As at January 7, following the latest national coronavirus lockdown, 620 of its stores are able to trade in some way, representing 32 percent of its total.