Shaftesbury Capital H1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
July 29, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Strong first-half performance: Like-for-like property value rose 3.4% to £5.6 billion, EPRA NTA increased 3.9% to £2.23 per share, and underlying earnings grew 8% to £44 million. The interim dividend increased 16% to 2.2 pence per share.
  • Positive Sentiment: Leasing momentum remained robust, with 226 transactions completed at rents 5% above ERV and 18% above previous passing rents. Portfolio vacancy was just 2.6% at mid-year, with management citing strong demand, limited supply, and continued support for its 5%-7% rental-growth targets.
  • Positive Sentiment: The balance sheet provides substantial capacity for investment, with net debt below £800 million, loan-to-value of 16%, and more than £800 million of liquidity expected after repaying maturing private placement notes. The company invested £31 million in acquisitions and capital expenditure while disposing of the non-core Lillie Square asset.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Management highlighted significant embedded income growth, including contracted rent, refurbishment projects, and under-rented space, with most contracted and refurbishment income expected to contribute over the next 12 months. However, capturing the broader 28% income reversion will depend on the pace of the leasing cycle.
  • Negative Sentiment: Expected credit loss provisions increased modestly after a small number of tenant failures, including an office tenant in Carnaby, while refinancing the £163 million private placement note is expected to increase the weighted average cost of debt. Management characterized both issues as manageable and not indicative of a broader deterioration.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Shaftesbury Capital H1 2026
00:00 / 00:00

Transcript Sections

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Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

Well, good morning again. Thanks so much for joining us today at our interim results presentation. We're delighted to report strong results for the first half, delivering growth across all key metrics. This is the agenda for this morning. I'll start with an overview. Situl will then take you through the financial review. I'll then provide an update on the portfolio activity, and we'll finish with a summary and outlook. It's been a successful period, delivering strong performance, with an increase in rents, values, income, and dividend. Despite the well-documented uncertain geopolitical and macroeconomic environment, I'm pleased to say that the West End continues to demonstrate its strength and our portfolio is well-positioned to outperform. We continue to see positive trends in footfall and customer sales growth across our prime portfolio.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

The team, many of whom are here today, is successfully achieving significant leasing spreads with excellent levels of activity, limited vacancy, and a strong pipeline of transactions. We continue to invest in our portfolio through capital expenditure and acquisitions. Also disposed of non-core asset Lillie Square during the period. We have a strong balance sheet with access to substantial liquidity and are well-positioned to take advantage of market opportunities. Just turning to the headline results for the first half of the year. Total property value increased 3.4% like-for-like to GBP 5.6 billion. That was supported by a 3.8% increase in ERV. EPRA NTA increased 3.9% to GBP 2.23 per share. That provided a total property return which was 5%, which is significantly above the MSCI index of 2.6%. The total accounting return was 4.9%. We continue to deliver rental growth and operational efficiencies whilst aiming to enhance customer service.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

Underlying earnings overall increased by 8%. The board has declared an interim dividend of GBP 0.022 per share, which is up 16%. I think the performance demonstrates the exceptional qualities of the portfolio, delivering growth in rents, dividends, ERV, and valuation. As one of the largest owners of property in London's West End, we play an important role in shaping the areas that we operate in and their long-term future. Visitors continue to be drawn to the West End's exceptional cultural, retail, and entertainment offering. Approximately 70% of footfall is driven by domestic U.K. visitors. Londoners account for around 45%. Visitors from elsewhere in the U.K. a further 25%. International visitors into the capital contribute the remaining approximately 30%, creating a diverse, very resilient customer base that supports consistent trading performance.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

We've noticed that spend, basket sizes, and overall trading productivity continue to improve. This is supported by more frequent and longer visits, reflecting the strength of engagement across our destinations. Rental growth prospects are underpinned by strong fundamentals. Occupancy remains very high, with the supply of new space limited. This is creating continued scarcity value. The West End market has delivered quite predictable growth over the long term, with annualized rental growth of approximately 4% per annum. Our portfolio has delivered ERV growth of nearly 7% per annum since 2010. West End retail yields have also been remarkably consistent, averaging approximately 4% over many cycles, again demonstrating its attractiveness and also its long-term defensive qualities. As I say, despite that backdrop, investment yields across our portfolio, which predominantly comprise small lot size freehold properties, remain very resilient.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

There continues to be a broad pool of domestic and international investors attracted to the West End real estate market, particularly for those smaller lot sizes, which is a very active component of the marketplace. With that, I will just hand over to Situl to take you through the financial review.

Situl Jobanputra
Situl Jobanputra
CFO at Shaftesbury Capital

Thanks, Ian, and good morning all. As you have seen, there has been continued progress in the first half towards our medium-term targets and further growth in earnings, valuations, and Net Tangible Assets. Our strong balance sheet positions us well for investment, expansion, and growth. Starting with the income statement. Top-line growth reflects a successful period of leasing and asset management. Gross rents of GBP 97.3 million are effectively up 4%, adjusting for the establishment of the Covent Garden partnership in April 2025. In aggregate, commercial lettings and renewals were 5% ahead of ERV and 25% ahead of previous passing rents. Property costs reflect some inflation and a small increase in the Expected Credit Loss offset by operational efficiencies. Administration costs of GBP 20.8 million include the effect of an increased share option charge and ongoing savings. Continued income growth and operational efficiencies are targeted over future periods.

Situl Jobanputra
Situl Jobanputra
CFO at Shaftesbury Capital

Net finance costs have been reduced to GBP 17.5 million, reflecting lower levels of drawn debt. All of these movements taken together resulted in an 8% increase in underlying earnings to GBP 44 million, or GBP 0.024 per share, and we have increased the interim dividend to GBP 0.022. There has been further growth in passing and market rents, with embedded reversion in the portfolio and good visibility on income growth. ERVs were up across the portfolio, resulting in a 3.8% increase since December to over GBP 280 million. Retail and Covent Garden were the largest contributors to growth in passing rent during the period. Vacancy remains low, with under 3% of the portfolio being available to let. As illustrated in the chart, there is the opportunity to grow rental income significantly whilst also continuing to grow ERV.

Situl Jobanputra
Situl Jobanputra
CFO at Shaftesbury Capital

This will be through a combination of contracted income and rent freeze converting to running income, refurbishments being completed, and ERV capture through the normal leasing cycle. Turning now to the balance sheet. The main driver for NTA growth was increased property valuations. The market value of the portfolio is up 3.4% to GBP 5.6 billion, or GBP 4.9 billion on a group share basis. Total property return for the period was 5%, outperforming the MSCI UK Property Index. Net debt is slightly under GBP 800 million, with loan-to-value of 16%. NTA per share has increased by 3.9% since December to GBP 2.23, and NRV per share is up to GBP 2.41. Rental values are up across the portfolio with retail and F&B, which account for some 70% being the standout contributors. The equivalent yield was stable at 4.6% for the commercial portfolio.

Situl Jobanputra
Situl Jobanputra
CFO at Shaftesbury Capital

Our estates continue to be highly attractive to our customers, and with average rental tones of around GBP 100 per sq ft, demonstrate good levels of affordability and leave plenty of room for growth. The balance sheet is in a strong position with low leverage, access to significant liquidity, and substantial headroom against covenants. With loan to value of 16% and net debt to EBITDA of under 6.5x, there is significant flexibility to deploy capital. Most of our drawn debt is at fixed rates. The interest rate protection we have in place will be topped up with further hedging for future years. Other points on debt. Firstly, we have reduced gross debt using cash to repay the exchangeable bonds and the Lillie Square proceeds to pay down bank facilities. Secondly, we've extended the maturity profile, most recently on the Covent Garden RCF.

Situl Jobanputra
Situl Jobanputra
CFO at Shaftesbury Capital

Three, debt margins have continued to improve, with our most recent facility being completed at 90 basis points for an initial term of five years. Post repayment of the private placement loan notes maturing later this year, the group will have access to over GBP 800 million of liquidity. We are very well-placed to invest in our portfolio and will continue to review financing opportunities, taking advantage of the attractive credit profile of the group. To summarize, there's been strong financial performance in the first half, and we have enhanced flexibility. The total accounting return in H1 was 4.9%, driven by rental growth and disciplined cost and capital management. We will continue to focus on our priority areas, progression in earnings and dividends, deploying capital accretively, and maintaining balance sheet strength and flexibility. With that, I will now hand back to Ian.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

Thanks, Situl. A little bit about the portfolio. Just a recap, I think you know what we own, but it's an impossible-to-replicate portfolio. It's located in some of the most iconic destinations across the West End. Obviously, Covent Garden, Carnaby, Soho, and Chinatown. It's GBP 5.6 billion of value that we have under management today, comprises 2.8 million sq ft of lettable space that sits across 640 predominantly freehold buildings. Within that, there are approximately 1,900 individual units. Excuse me. The portfolio is broadly one-third retail, one-third F&B, with the balance in the upper floors, which offer office and residential accommodation. Overall, the portfolio offers a very diverse occupier mix, a range of income streams, and a range of unit sizes and rental tones.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

As you'll have seen, occupational demand continues to be strong, and it prioritizes the best locations, not just in London, but elsewhere in the world. Availability on many of our streets is now at near record lows, and that's supporting competitive pricing. Portfolio vacancy was 2.6% at the mid-year, and there's obviously been progress since that date, with this slide showing some of the new brands and renewals that occurred during the period. Overall, 226 leasing transactions completed. That represented GBP 23 million of contracted rent, about 5% ahead of December 2025 ERV and roughly 18% ahead of previous passing rents. I think the long-term benefits of our active approach to asset management and our leasing strategy are becoming increasingly evident. Careful customer selection and the introduction of high-quality brands has driven higher sales densities, stronger customer performance, and continued rental growth.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

Since the merger, we've welcomed over 180 new brands across the portfolio, and many of those new entrants are trading at significantly higher levels than the previous occupiers, which supports future sustained rental growth. The team take a very active and creative approach. This is informed by a really deep knowledge of the West End, and I think that positions the company to continue to outperform that long-term trend. A little bit about retail. London is definitely a priority market for retailers. It's perceived as a global gateway city. It has strong leasing demand, which manifests itself throughout the West End, but particularly in our locations. Carnaby Street, I'm delighted to say, is attracting some leading international brands. Some to note are Edikted, KOOKAÏ, K-Way, and they've chosen the destination for their U.K. debuts.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

Sephora opened this week with queues around the block for their first West End store. Covent Garden, Tiffany, important customer for us, they've recommitted to the estate. Matière Première launched their first U.K. store, and that strengthened our offer in beauty and premium fragrance. Chinatown welcomed POP MART, which opened its largest London store. Together, these leasing successes have supported retail valuation growth of 5.4% across the portfolio. There continues to be a very active demand for our high-quality food and beverage locations. Leasing activity has largely been focused on founder-led restaurants and international operators that are making their U.K. debuts, as well as established operators, often within the portfolio that are expanding selectively. There is a broader shift in consumer preference towards high-quality, experience-led dining, and our portfolio is very well positioned to benefit from this trend.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

Across Covent Garden and Soho, there have been a number of new openings, including Buvette, BAO Borough, Padella, and Vagabond Wines to name a few, and we're very pleased with the way they've been received by the consumer. I think it's the vibrancy of our destinations that continue to attract strong customer and consumer demand, supporting that very resilient level of leasing activity. Overall, 12 new concepts opened during the period, and any available space has been relet very quickly, often with multiple bidders, and that just leaves about 0.2% of the portfolio currently available for let. 27 new lettings and renewals were signed, 9% ahead of December 2025 ERV, again, supporting valuation growth, which for the F&B component was around 4%. The vibrancy of our locations, I think does continue to attract office occupiers.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

It's that vibrancy of location as well as the quality of service and accommodation that we offer, and that continues to generate sustained leasing demand. Carnaby and Covent Garden portfolios offer very high amenity value, and for our smaller period properties, we continue to offer fully furnished, flexible leasing packages, which seems to be meeting consumer demand. Residential portfolio is letting very well. During the period, 116 leasing transactions were completed at rents of around 2%-4% ahead of previous passing. The scale of our portfolio allows us to shape not just the individual buildings, but also the spaces around our properties. The pipeline of asset management and refurbishment activities that we're currently undertaking represents around 5% of ERV, which will be delivered over the next 12 months or so.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

In addition, we're working with local stakeholders to enhance the public realm across various destinations, making them more enjoyable for everyone. For instance, Covent Garden's Henrietta Street public realm is currently being transformed, and we're also undertaking significant improvements to Carnaby Street and Kingly Court, to enhance the visitor experience We also continue to rotate capital where appropriate. This year, we completed the disposal of non-core asset Lillie Square and invested GBP 31 million in target acquisitions and capital expenditure. Indeed, we're bidding on a number of properties at the moment. As Situl mentioned, we have substantial liquidity or access to substantial liquidity to take advantage of those market opportunities when they arise. Just in conclusion, we delivered a strong first half with leasing momentum and operational performance continuing into the second half of the year.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

The operating platform that we have and the experienced team does differentiate Shaftesbury Capital, and that's translating active asset management and leasing into earnings and value progression. The West End is a highly attractive market with strong customer demand, high footfall, sales growth, limited vacancy and a strong leasing pipeline. We have significant growth potential across the portfolio and continue to deliver on our medium-term rental growth targets. Supported by that strong balance sheet, we're well positioned to pursue selective expansion opportunities and capitalize on those market opportunities as they arise. That's the conclusion of the formal presentation. I think we'd like to go to Q&A. If you're on the phones, if you could let the operator know you'd like to ask a question, we'll come to you. If we can start perhaps with the room.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

It'd be useful if you could just say your name if you have a question, and we'll try and answer it.

Analyst at Berenberg

Awesome. Thank you. It's Thomas at Berenberg. Thanks for the presentation. Just a question on leasing spreads. Last year, you were leasing 10% ahead of ERV. So far in 2026, it's 5% ahead. Is the competitive tension still as strong today as in the recent past that you're seeing? Because I appreciate you're also pointing to some higher credit loss provisions, too. Any color you can give on where you're seeing those would be helpful as well. Thanks.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

It feels strong. Every period of six months is different to the last period of six months. A lot depends on the nature of the real estate that's actually coming due in that period. You've got our leasing director sitting behind you. He and his team do all the deals, and he's quite happy at the moment. What we're seeing does support the forward look on those 5%-7% rental growth targets that we've got out there.

Situl Jobanputra
Situl Jobanputra
CFO at Shaftesbury Capital

On ECLs, there was a small tick up over the period, which was really a function of one or two unexpected failures. One office tenant in Carnaby. We've taken the opportunity there to take the property back, we'll refurbish it and aim to relet that at higher rents. The second element is we've taken a slightly more conservative approach on our other customers, just at a macro level. As I said, relatively small numbers, nothing material to signal.

Analyst at Berenberg

Cool. Thank you. Maybe just second one, I think on page 33 in the appendix, at Carnaby and Soho, like-for-like annualized gross income fell 1.1%, but ERVs there still moving up almost 4%. I just wonder if you can help explain that divide.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

Carnaby Street's doing really well, actually. I'm particularly pleased with the section to the southern end of the estate where we've got a whole bunch of new brands in there. Sephora, I mentioned, have opened up opposite Edikted. They're trading very well. At the upper end of the street, Will and the team put in KIBOU and various other brands. We're well on the way to transforming the street. That should be enhanced with the streetscape improvements that you'll see rolled out at Kingly and along the street this coming year. It's well on its way. I do expect good rental growth over the coming years. This year, you've had a couple of failures, mainly on the office side that we didn't really expect. That's had an impact on those numbers.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

I think the trend is very, very positive for Carnaby Street.

Analyst at Berenberg

Thank you.

James Carswell
James Carswell
Analyst at Peel Hunt

Morning. It's James Carswell from Peel Hunt. You talk a little bit about the acquisition and kind of the growth opportunities you're seeing. Could you give a little bit more color as to what you're seeing? Are they your kind of standard kind of bolt-on new acquisitions? Are you seeing anything more meaningful? Are there particular parts of the estate that you'd particularly like to grow?

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

Look, it's a very tight market in the West End and very actively traded. We've got a new valuer this year, and they've done a great job. The comparable information that they've produced shows that certainly for lot sizes below GBP 20 million and up to GBP 50 million, it's really competitive. Where we are bidding, we are seeing multiple competitors. I think our competitive advantage is often we can see where the rental growth will come, but you're generally competing at yields that are tighter than the valuation yields. It's all about what my colleagues can actually do with these places over time. Priority of capital is always our existing properties. Chris has got a number of refurbishments on at the moment, which I think will go very well. They're mainly offices, actually, couple of pubs and some retail, but they'll lease very well.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

The next focus is buying a for outstanding the portfolio so we've bought properties around the southern end of Carnaby Street, for instance. Bought a couple of things in Golden Square, which we're quite interested in, and we're bidding on something in Covent Garden at the moment. We don't seek to buy everything. We generally want to find things that we feel we can make a difference to, and that are going to be accretive within a reasonably short period. Very competitive. I think when you get to the bigger lot sizes, they don't really become available that often. When they do, we're well positioned to participate.

Ashnaa Vyas
Analyst at Deutsche Numis

Thanks. Thanks for the presentation. Ashnaa Vyas, Deutsche Numis. On slide 10, you show that you have 28% income reversion. I was just wondering if you could talk a bit more about the timeframe you expect to capture this. Secondly, are there certain parts of the estate where you think you can drive rents harder?

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

I'll deal with the first bit, and maybe Situl can talk you through the bridge slide, which sort of explains it. I think what's really noticeable is where we've had the opportunity to re-tenant. They are trading at significantly higher levels than previous tenants. Often well over 100%. That gives us confidence that the rental growth will be sustained at above trend. That's really very important, particularly noticeable around Seven Dials, where we put, I think, 30 or 40 new brands in, Chris, is that right? Over the last 12-18 months. They're doing well. Carnaby Street, it really is night and day, isn't it, on some of these trading densities. That should be captured when they come up to revert, which is probably outside of the period where we'll capture the 25 million or 28 million, is it?

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

Whatever it is. This is about longer term growth as well, and that's really comforting. Do you want to go through the bridge?

Situl Jobanputra
Situl Jobanputra
CFO at Shaftesbury Capital

Yeah, of course. Look, the three main elements are contracted refurbishment and the under-rented element, if you like. On the contracted, that's a combination of what we've signed up and what's currently in rent-free. Those periods tend to be quite short. There are some step rents in there as well as the third element. The vast majority of that will come into running income over the next 12 months or so, and that's just a function cycle of activity. On refurbishments, there's GBP 13 million, GBP 14 million within that. Again, most of these are smaller schemes. In fact, they're all smaller schemes. Some of them are pre-let, and on the others, we have a high conviction about ability to let those, and as Ian mentioned, when we re-tenant, we typically see a big tick-up in productivity and hopefully rents.

Situl Jobanputra
Situl Jobanputra
CFO at Shaftesbury Capital

The third element, the under-rented element, that's really a function of the leasing cycle, so it's kind of velocity and pace of transactions. Remember, we're trying to do it at the same time as increasing ERV, so that metric around consistently beating ERV on our transactions and passing rents is very important contributor to growing the income line.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

I think you had a question, Zach.

Zachary Gauge
Zachary Gauge
Analyst at UBS

Yeah, thanks. It's Zachary Gauge from UBS. Just to pick up on the questions on the office sector. You mentioned a couple of failures during the period. I guess that explains the fairly soft like-for-like growth you saw in the sector. Are those sort of isolated one-off events, or was there any particular macro or wider factor that drove them?

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

Yeah. Actually, Matt Saperia, who runs Carnaby, I think he's quite pleased to get the space back because I think he got quite an exciting refurbishment that you told me you're going to get much higher rents on, right? Yeah. I think it's nice. That one did surprise us, actually. We've had a few on the food and beverage side as well, but we kind of expected those and where that space comes available, there's multiple bids. We've got a space on, I won't name the tenant, but in Soho, where you've got five or six bids on it, haven't you, at significantly higher rents than passing. That should all feed through. No discernible trends, I think, Zach.

Zachary Gauge
Zachary Gauge
Analyst at UBS

Okay, great. A second question. You've got the GBP 163 million PPN maturing. If I'm not mistaken, that's towards the end of this year, so limited impact on 2026. You've said you'll refi through existing facilities. Can you just give an indication on what the marginal cost you think will be on that?

Situl Jobanputra
Situl Jobanputra
CFO at Shaftesbury Capital

Yeah. We put in place a new facility quite recently. Remember, this is within the Covent Garden business. That's a five-year facility with two one-year extensions, so there's a good term on it as well. That's the lowest margin that we've secured on a bank facility for some time actually, and lower than we had planned for within the business. That's at 90 basis points. There will be a tick-up in the weighted average cost of debt inevitably. Our judgment's been that actually using the bank market for five to seven years is a pretty good place relative to the longer-term market where we still feel rates are slightly dislocated. The marginal cost on that will be SONIA before any hedging +90 basis points.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

Is anybody on the phones? Maybe just go to the phone for a second. There's one question, I think. Sorry, did you finish that?

Situl Jobanputra
Situl Jobanputra
CFO at Shaftesbury Capital

Yeah.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

Sorry. Maybe back to the room. Any final questions?

Operator

To ask a question over the phone, please signal by pressing star one. We have a question from Aaron Guy from Citi. Please go ahead.

Aaron Guy
Aaron Guy
Analyst at Citi

Good morning, everybody. Just a question on the broader kind of market. Can you just give a bit more color on what you're seeing in the other estates across the West End, so Oxford Street, Regent Street? Is there more competition coming from the other parts of the West End? If the demand is just so strong across the West End, where rental growth seems to be pretty strong everywhere, is there anything more you can do to accelerate the cash conversion of rents? I'm thinking of things like, trying to encourage higher tenant churn or shorter leases or more CapEx.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

Well, I think the trend has been that vacancy across the West End has fallen significantly from where it was a couple of years ago, but there are still pockets of vacancy. Oxford Street's probably got the higher level of vacancy, probably above 10%. We don't really compete with those places generally. Our units for retail and hospitality are relatively small. Oxford Street tends to be sort of larger box type, but obviously the reduction in vacancy there assists general sentiment in the market. The areas around us have also seen that tightening of availability, whether it's Regent Street or otherwise. The reality for us is that we're often competing with other parts of the world.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

A brand that wants to come into London for their first store, such as Edikted, for instance, they might also look at Le Marais in Paris, they might look at somewhere in Milan. We're always looking at the relativity of pricing for the West End, which is actually very affordable compared to a lot of other major cities, particularly if you compare it with the U.S. They do see high productivity in the U.K., particularly in our stores, because you're trading long hours, you've very high footfall, 150 million footfalls. That's really what attracts it. Then for the restaurateurs, that's largely domestically driven as well as international operators wanting to come. They like the fact that it trades almost every day of the year, multiple churns on covers.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

You can see from the update that we've got demand across the whole range, which is very pleasing. They also see the benefit, I think, of just working with a landlord that takes a forward view on running these estates, and they're confident that they're going to be surrounded by like-minded people. I think for us, I wouldn't say we operate sort of in isolation because there is competition everywhere, but we have a pretty unique portfolio in the context of the London marketplace. As far as retail leases, there's been no discernible trend, I would say, in reduction of leases. Particularly F&B generally want longer leases. Standard retail lease will be between five and 10 years. We do have a turnover component in all of our leases, which does cut in. It generally gets baked into the next review or the next rent review.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

The same for the food and beverage. We're not seeing any discernible trends. The office leases have got shorter, and it's not our market, but for larger office spaces, the incentives seem to be reasonably full. Then for residential, it's standard sort of. Well, discuss how long is a lease today? But they tend to be one to two years long, so no discernible trends. But I think the thing that we're interested in, and I said this to you before, Aaron, is where there's opportunity to monetize our places a little bit beyond the real estate. What we call it non-leased income, which is a very dry term. We must get a better term for that. But it's what can we do to reach the consumer and also perhaps use the spaces in between the buildings to generate revenue.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

We do quite a lot around the portfolio that non-leased income line is growing.

Aaron Guy
Aaron Guy
Analyst at Citi

Yeah. No, understood. There's definitely opportunity there. Can you just talk a little bit about Chinatown? Obviously, you mentioned the strong demand from international brands, et cetera, pushing rates up. Chinatown historically has performed very well, and do you think that performance can continue over the next decade and Chinatown can continue to evolve given its specialism?

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

Well, I think the team's done. I mean, Matt runs it. He's here. You can have a chat with him if you were in the room. The reality is that the process has been to widen the choice for the consumer. It's a Pan-Asian offer now, and that is very well received. We're seeing strong demand from the food and beverage industry. Whenever we get anything back, it's high demand. I think it would be interesting to see whether we can maybe over time bring some retail in. Retail is very strong demand at the moment. I think there's good growth over time, but it's probably going to revert to that mean market performance perhaps before Carnaby Street, for instance, which has got a long way to go, and Covent Garden, which continues to deliver, frankly.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

That's the way we look at it. It's 14% of our valuation base at the moment, but it's very consistent. It delivers every quarter. The footfall's fantastic. It's a joy to own at the moment.

Aaron Guy
Aaron Guy
Analyst at Citi

Just one final one, if I can. Just on the investment market. Investment demand in the West End grew 2023 into 2024, then 2024 into 2025. Are you seeing in the first half, again, I think you mentioned the investment demand strengthening again into 2026. Can you just talk a little bit about the two different kind of markets? Your average lot size of GBP 8 million seems to be very strong, particularly in the global uncertain market. Also, are you seeing any sort of increased bigger buyers at the, say, GBP 1 billion portfolios snooping around the West End?

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

It's very active below GBP 50 million, very active below GBP 20 million. That's been reaffirmed actually by our new valuers in the list of evidential transactions that they put forward with the valuation. There's a whole list of stuff that has been sold at valuation or above. We see when we're bidding on sort of GBP 10 million, GBP 15 million, GBP 20 million lot sizes, there's four or five people in the room. We're not really in that bigger market. I'm sure that tends to be dominated by the office market. We don't have large individual office buildings, the valuers were saying to us that, for GBP 100 million+, it's quite hard work. I have no reason to disbelieve them. Our market's been incredibly active really now for, well, the last three years, hasn't it, really? Lots going on.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

Those bigger lot sizes don't come available very often, where they have done on Bond Street, for instance, they've sold quite well. The super prime locations around Berkeley Square and things like that, there's transactions in the market today, right? I'm not really qualified to answer that. That's not really our world.

Aaron Guy
Aaron Guy
Analyst at Citi

Yep. Understood. Thank you very much.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

Thanks for that, Aaron.

Aaron Guy
Aaron Guy
Analyst at Citi

Thank you.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

Any more questions on the phone?

Operator

There's currently no questions. With this, I'd like to hand it back over to Ian for any additional or closing remarks.

Ian Hawksworth
Ian Hawksworth
CEO at Shaftesbury Capital

Slightly jumped the gun there, sorry. Okay. Any further questions from the room? No? Okay, great. Well, look, thanks very much for joining us. Appreciate it. Hope you find time over the summer to come and shop in the West End. Maybe try one or two of our restaurants. Will can give you a list of his favorites. It's quite long. We'd love to see you, come and see us in the office. Again, thanks for your attention. Appreciate it. If you've got any questions afterwards, you know where we are. Thank you very much.

Executives
    • Ian Hawksworth
      Ian Hawksworth
      CEO
    • Situl Jobanputra
      Situl Jobanputra
      CFO
Analysts
    • Analyst at Berenberg
    • James Carswell
      Analyst at Peel Hunt
    • Ashnaa Vyas
      Analyst at Deutsche Numis
    • Zachary Gauge
      Analyst at UBS
    • Aaron Guy
      Analyst at Citi
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