Company’s ambitious plans for city region

Mar 12 2008 by Aaron Boland, Liverpool Daily Post

ONE of Liverpool’s biggest owners of commercial property is aiming to grow its Merseyside portfolio to up to 3m sq ft.

Bruntwood owns around 870,000 sq ft of space across the Liverpool city region and is second only to rival Downing.

However, speaking yesterday at the MIPIM international property festival in Cannes, Bruntwood chief executive Mike Oglesby said the firm had big ambitions locally.

“Liverpool is our second-biggest centre,” he said. “Our holdings are three times higher here than in the next-placed city and it’s important for us that we have lots of stock on the shelf.

“Out of all the regional cities we are looking at, Liverpool probably offers our best oppor- tunity for expansion. It has a fabulous stock of existing build- ings and the majority of our pro- jects have been refurbishments.

“Across our regional cities we have found the vast majority of inward investors are looking for property in the mid to high teens rental-wise.”

Bruntwood’s portfolio includes the former Littlewoods headquarters in Old Hall Street, now renamed the Plaza and where it has its own Liverpool base, and Oriel Chambers.

It had a busy 2007 and among its deals during the year was the acquisition of the Cotton Exchange complex for around £20m and of the Grade II Listed Number One Dale Street.

The Manchester-based firm declined to reveal the price it paid for the site, which houses the retail branch of Royal Bank of Scotland, but said it intended to spend £2m on refurbishment.

The firm’s last published accounts to March, 2007, showed a 56% increase in pre-tax profits to £13.5m.

Bruntwood has a string of 80 commercial buildings in the north. Total ownership stands at 5.2m sq ft with new lettings of 589,000 sq ft completed and 818,000 sq ft of space refurbished during the year.

Rent roll stood at over £57m, while occupancy rates were 95% for the core portfolio, and 83% including properties undergoing refurbishment.

The company insists that with lending at 50% it is less leveraged than many in the industry and it was in a good position to weather a downturn.

SELLING LIVERPOOL: P4-5

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