Stobart Group sells 47-acre Liverpool site to Ford for £37m

Infrastructure and support services company Stobart Group has today (May 26) exchanged contracts for the sale of a 47-acre site in Liverpool for an eight-figure sum.

Upon acquiring the Speke site in March this year, the Warrington-headquartered firm had intended to hold all 53-acres as an investment property. However, its current tenant, automaker Ford Motor Company, required an option to acquire the 47-acre property for £37m as part of the agreement to lease signed in March.

Now, Ford has exercised the option to buy the site and completion is due this Tuesday (May 31).

While the Speke property was bought for £15.6m and generated a yearly rental profit of £700k, the transaction with Ford is expected to boost Stobart’s profits for the current financial year by around £11.8m.

Stobart CEO Andrew Tinkler said of the deal: “We are very pleased to have realised further value and generated significant profits from our investment property portfolio with a transaction that demonstrates the hidden value within our infrastructure and investment divisions.”

Earlier this month, Stobart Group reported growth across all five of its main divisions, with its overall profits for the 12 months to February 29 almost doubling.

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