Grosvenor value rises after four-year slowdown

Published 19th Apr 2011

The Duke of Westminster, Britain's third-richest person, added 9.4 percent to the value of his property investments as his family's vehicle Grosvenor perked up after a four-year slowdown.

Net Asset Value (NAV) rose by 240 million pounds to 2.78 billion pounds, while total returns were 10.9 percent, up from a negative 2.8 percent, according to Grosvenor, one of the UK's biggest property investors.

"We remain committed to expansion in Asia, especially China, and to reinvesting in our core business in London. Expanding our fund management business ... is also a priority," Grosvenor Chief Executive Mark Preston said in a statement.

The company is owned by the Grosvenor family. The current duke is Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, listed as Britain's third-richest person on The Times Sunday Times Rich List 2010.

The real estate sector this year would have a hard time matching its strong performance in 2010, which was marked by increases in values in London in particular.

"I think we are going to struggle to match those values again this year and beyond this year there are some clouds that could be a threat to that recovery being sustained," Preston told Reuters in an interview.

Grosvenor had started spending a 964 million pounds safety buffer it had built up over the previous two years to shelter it from another downturn in markets or from any financing difficulties it might run in to.

"If you want to survive over several hundred years you have to plan for crashes," Finance Director Nick Scarfe said in the interview with Preston.

Among its investments in 2010, Grosvenor bought a 50 percent stake in the PCCW Tower in Hong Kong from Swire Properties, and the Grouss portfolio of residential properties in Edinburgh and Glasgow through a joint venture.

The group, which owns large swathes of real estate in London's upmarket Mayfair district, returned to profit in 2010 with a pretax profit of 294.8 million, compared with a pretax loss of 235.8 million the previous year.

Shareholders' equity rose 15.7 percent to 2.65 billion pounds, from 2.39 billion the previous year, while the value of its total assets were 10.9 billion pounds.

Grosvenor financed and refinanced 1.1 billion pounds of debt last year for the group and the funds and joint ventures it manages. Since then it has raised 125 million in notes to help finance new investments in London.

Source: ' Reuters '

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