Shaftesbury Capital hails West End potential with bullish outlook

(Sharecast News) - West End-focused real estate investment trust Shaftesbury Capital delivered a confident outlook on Thursday, hailing strong leasing momentum and occupancy levels since the start of the year. The company has signed 128 leasing transactions so far in 2025, representing £11.3m of new contracted rent at 8% ahead of estimated rental values at the year-end.

The first five months of the year have seen several new openings across the portfolio, including Nespresso, Dolce & Gabbana, Autry and Farm Rio.

Annualised rent roll has risen 3% on a like-for-like basis to £210m since the start of the year, while occupancy levels remain high with just 1.7% of ERV available to let, compared with 2.6% in December.

Shaftesbury chief executive Ian Hawksworth said clients were seeing "positive trends in footfall and sales" so far this year. "Customers recognise the exceptional features of London's West End with broad appeal to domestic and international businesses and visitors," he said.

The first quarter saw Shaftesbury sell a 25% stake in its £2.7bn Covent Garden estate to Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, Norges Bank Investment Management, raising cash proceeds of £570m.

In an AGM trading update on Thursday, the company said the deal provides it with "significant optionality" and sees a "range of options to deploy the proceeds including acquisitions, asset management and repositioning opportunities and repayment of outstanding debt".

The stock was more or less flat at 144p by 0935 BST, having jumped around 15% so far this year.