Record profits for Fosse Park owners
Queen’s Crown Estates sees £24m rise in profits
THE owner of Fosse Park has announced another year of record profits
The Crown Estate, which owns 19 retail and leisure destinations, including the Braunstone shopping park, said its £2.4 billion retail property portfolio helped generate a £24 million rise in profits to £328.8 million last year
The Crown Estate is one of the UK’s biggest commercial property businesses. All revenue raised by the company goes to the Treasury.
As a direct consequence of its rise in profits, it was announced that the Queen will receive an eight per cent increase in income from public funds,
The Queen’s income comes from the Sovereign Grant, which is paid two years in arrears, and is money given to the Queen by the Treasury.
It is based on the profits of the Crown Estate portfolio, including profits from the hugely successful Fosse Park.
The Crown Estate said Fosse Park is one of the most successful shopping parks in the country, attracting more than 10 million visitors a year.
The Crown has spent £12 million improving the shopping experience at Fosse, with five new retailers – Office, Pandora, Primark, Superdrug and JD Sports – joining the already impressive line-up in the past 12 months.
It is currently in negotiations with Everards to buy its brewery site next door at Castle Acres. Plans to extend Fosse Park there would see 300,000 sq ft of additional retail space to include a new landmark next store.
Everards wants to relocate its brewery and headquarters to land it owns on the other side of Soar Valley Way.
Hannah Milne, director of The Crown Estate’s regional retail portfolio said: “This has been another strong year for Fosse and The Crown Estate’s regional retail portfolio, where we have continued to focus on creating brilliant places in the best locations.
“For us, it’s about offering great experiences in convenient shopping destinations which meet the needs of local shoppers and attract the very best retailers.”
Alison Nimmo, chief executive of The Crown Estate said: “We have delivered another strong set of results. This outperformance reflects many years of disciplined market positioning in our chosen sectors and has made our business resilient at a time of political and economic uncertainty.
“For over a decade we’ve carefully timed our development pipeline, focussed on creating brilliant places in the best locations and maintained our active support of the UK’s world-leading offshore wind sector.
“Looking ahead, we expect returns to remain subdued, but we are confident in the underlying strength of our markets and our commitment to quality in what we deliver.
“Following a record year of capital activity, this year will see the launch of two major retail schemes at Rushden and in Oxford, and the continued preparation of the next phase of our development pipeline in central London that will form the backbone of our long-term performance.”