Town Centre Securities hails ‘ reassuring’ rent collection rate

TOWN Centre Securities, the property development and car park operator, said it has billed a total of £ 5.2m of rent and service charges in England and has successfully collected £ 3.9m or 75 per cent of the total.

The Leeds- based firm said it has agreed to defer a further £ 500,000 ( 10 per cent). This means it has collected or agreed to defer a total of £ 4.4m or 85 per cent of what it is owed.

TCS said collection levels for its latest quarter are ahead of previous quarters. It expects the 75 per cent figure to continue to rise as it has seen collection levels improve in each successive quarter.

Of the £ 800,000 remaining, £ 100,000 has been waived, with a further £ 700,000 needing some form of agreement.

In Scotland, it billed a total of £ 13.4m, of which £ 11.3m or 84 per cent has been successfully collected.

A further £ 400,000, or three per cent, of deferrals have been agreed, giving a total agreed collection amount of £ 11.7m or 87 per cent.

A further £ 1.7m remains outstanding, of which £ 800,000 has been waived.

TCS chairman and chief executive Edward Ziff said: “We continue to see a consistent and reassuring level of rent collection.

“To have maintained collection and deferred payment levels at 87 per cent to date reflects the quality, uniqueness and diversified nature of our portfolio and the collaborative and strong relationships we have built in partnership with our tenants over many years.

“I am also pleased with the significant and swift progress made on our disposal programme. £ 41.2m of sales since our June year end has allowed us to significantly reduce debt, lower the proportion of retail and leisure assets in our portfolio, increase financial headroom, and create greater flexibility for the future as we reset and reinvigorate the business.”

Analyst Tom Musson at Liberum said: “An update from TCS confirms that 82 per cent of cumulative rent billed since March 25 has been collected, which is ahead of the market.

“This increases to 87 per cent when including deferred payments agreed.”