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Metrocentre owners make over £360 million profits

The owners of Gateshead’s intu Metrocentre have reported pre-tax profits of £362 million for 2013.

Intu Properties, which also operate the Arndale and Trafford shopping centres in Manchester, reported a £250 million rise on 2012 profits, driven by a revaluation on its properties to £126 million.

The British giant said like-for-like rental incomes had fallen 1.9% during the year due to a number of administrations among its retailer tenants, however this was partially offset by new lettings at intu Trafford Centre, intu Manchester Arndale and intu Lakeside.

Net rental income for the year reached £370 million, up from £363 million the year before.

A £1.2 billion programme is in the pipeline for intu, in the UK and in Spain. The plans represent 2.6 million sq. ft. of new retail, restaurants and leisure of which 1.8 million sq. ft. (£0.7 billion) has planning approval.

As part of the development the firm said it might sell some of its operations, and introduce new partners in other areas.

David Fischel, chief executive of Intu Properties plc, commented: “Intu advanced significantly in 2013 with a rebranding, strategic acquisitions, debt refinancing, equity issuance and key planning consents for our £1.2 billion development programme.

“The benefits to customers, retailers and staff from our rebranding as intu have surpassed our expectations. Successful multi-channel retailers continue to regard flagship stores in the larger super-regional and major city centres as core to their overall business.

“With the economy appearing to improve and total profit for the year including revaluations increased from £159 million to £364 million, we are prepared to withstand some minor reduction in like-for-like net rental income in the short term as we continue to invest in our centres to drive their total returns through our robust asset management approach, tenant mix repositioning and development projects.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .