Shaftesbury PLC

Description

London-based Shaftesbury PLC is a real estate investment trust that was founded in 1986 and is a constituent of FTSE 250 index. It was formed with an initial investment of £10 million by the Levy family of the famous DE & J Levy estate agency. The objective of the company is to deliver long- term sustainable growth in rents, recurring earning, cash flow and its portfolio value for its shareholders.

Shaftesbury mainly focuses on investing in the West End of London, which consists of iconic, high-footfall areas that are close to populated locations, visitors’ attractions, workplaces, and transportation hubs. The West End of London has many unique features as it is the largest city in the western Europe in terms of population and GDP and is a tourist attraction for domestic and international visitors. It has unmatched shopping and leisure centres that makes it very attractive in terms of investment and future prospects, growth, and resilience.  

Shaftesbury has invested in five iconic villages: Carnaby, Covent Garden, Chinatown, Soho and Fitzrovia.  Carnaby is very popular locally and internationally known for fashion retail, dinning destination, focused and flagship stores, independent brands, cafes, pubs, bars, clubs etc. Carnaby contributes 37% of the total portfolio through 99 shops, 70 restaurants, bars & cafes, 117 residential buildings, and 2, 74,000 sq ft office space, which is almost 65% of total office space owned by Shaftesbury.

Chinatown is popular for the restaurant offering Chinese and east Asian food, and contributes 21% of the total portfolio, which includes 49 shops, 91 restaurants, bars & cafes, 159 residential buildings and 25,000 sq ft office space.

Covent Garden mainly located in Seven Dials, Opera Quarter, Coliseum and The Yards Covent Garden and contributes 30% of the total portfolio through wholly owned 99 shops, 96 restaurants, bars & cafes, 222 apartments and 89,000 sq ft. office space and includes 20 shops, 10 restaurants, bars & cafes, 75 apartments and, 102,000 sq ft. of office space that are owned in partnership with Longmartin. Soho contributes 8% to the portfolio through 38 shops, 35 Restaurants, bars & cafes, 70 apartments and 41,000 sq ft office space. Fitzrovia contributes 4% to the portfolio which comprises of 9 shops, 25 restaurants, 56 apartments and 10,000 sq ft. office space. 

The Shaftesbury’s portfolio valuation is about £3.3 billion in 2020. It has the portfolio of 16 acres, of which 1.9 acres is in joint venture, 1.9 million sq ft commercial and residential space, of this 0.3 sq ft in joint venture and rest is in commercial buildings.