Woodies Owner Grafton Group reports strong performance all round

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Woodies owner Grafton Group has reported a strong performance in their first half of the year, with revenue, profit and earnings per share all rising on the back of improving trading conditions. Profit before tax was up more than 280% from 24.5 million in the first six months of 2012 to 68.4 million in the same period this year, the company said in a statement.

The company said the merchanting business in Ireland reported a significant increase in revenue, which rose 5.6% from €114 million in 2013 to €121 million in the first six months of this year. Operating profit advanced “very strongly” from €1.5 million to €6 million and the operating margin increased by 3.3 percentage points to 4.%. The UK merchanting business, which constituted 73% of group revenue, performed strongly due to volume growth in the residential repair, maintenance and improvement market.

“The benefit of restructuring of its Woodies chain completed in the second half of 2012 that involved the consolidation of two stores and the realignment of rents to current open market levels in ten stores enabled the comparative half year loss to be eliminated and the business returned to profitability”, said Grafton.

Hibernia Reit acquires 0.75 acre freehold site in Dublin’s South Docks

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Property investment company Hibernia Reit has exchanged contracts to acquire a 0.75 acre freehold site at 1-6 Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2 for € 17.75 million in an off-market transaction.

The site, which fronts onto the river and adjoins Hibernia’s recently acquired Observatory Building, has existing planning permission for 102,000 sq. ft. net lettable of offices, c. 5,000 sq. ft. of retail space, three residential units and 34 parking spaces.

With Hibernia’s Windmill Lane Site and Hanover Building immediately behind and the Observatory Building adjoining, the acquisition gives Hibernia ownership of a full riverside quadrant in the South Docks area, which has become one of the most popular office locations in Dublin in recent years.

This acquisition is Hibernia’s eleventh since listing on the Irish Stock Exchange in December 2013. Following completion of the acquisition of the site and its recent acquisition of The Forum building in the IFSC, Hibernia will have invested € 393 million, with a further € 63 million committed.

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Hibernia Reit acquires Forum building in IFSC

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Hibernia REIT has announced a deal to buy The Forum building in Dublin’s IFSC from an affiliate of Atlas Capital Group for a price of €37.8m in an off-market transaction.

Constructed in 2003, the building is situated on Commons Street and comprises 47,109 square feet of office accommodation over two floors above four floors of car park space. The offices are fully let to Depfa Bank on annual rent of €40 per sq. ft. on leases which expire in 2029, with options to break in 2019. The total passing rent from the offices, together with 50 parking spaces also let to Depfa, is €2m per annum. The remaining 320 car parking spaces are currently utilised by Park Rite, paying €675k per annum, on a lease that has formally expired. Lease discussions are on-going with the tenant.

The Forum is Hibernia’s tenth acquisition since listing. The deal is expected to be completed in late 2014.

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SCSI calls for extension of Home Renovation Scheme to Commercial

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The Society of Chartered Surveyors of Ireland (SCSI) has called for an extension of Home Renovation Scheme (HRI) to Commercial Properties following a survey which was carried out. SCSI has called for a number of measures to boost the supply of new commercial property, including the introduction of a Builders Finance Fund (BFF) and a Revolving Infrastructure Fund to support the availability of development finance.

The survey also shows a 5th of commercial property owners applied for a rent reduction in the last year, of those that applied 42% achieved a reduction of up to 10%.

Please see PDF report:

New Commercial Property Survey from Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland

KPMG prepares fresh sales process for IBRC’s unsold projects

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KPMG has repackaged all €2.4bn unsold IBRC non-performing loans (NPL) in three separate portfolios, dubbed projects Amber, Quartz and Pearl, in a set of fresh blind auction processes which are targeted for staggered closures before the year end.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has been assigned to advise KPMG, the joint special liquidator of IBRC, on the re-attempted sale of the loans which failed to meet the minimum price threshold as set by Ireland’s Minster of Finance, Michael Noonan in May last year.

The re-packaged NPLs are now comprised as follows:
– The €675m Project Amber, comprised of Irish corporate and commercial property loans
– The €1.1bn Project Quartz, comprised of commercial property loans
– The €655m Project Pearl, comprised of predominantly Irish residential mortgages.

Project Amber is the first of the three re-issued NPLs to be marketed, with the sales process having started last week, according to the Irish Independent. The sales process for Projects Quartz and Pearl are expected to begin next month.

A successful sale of projects Amber, Quartz and Pearl would facilitate the completion of IBRC’s accelerated wind-up, as decreed by Ireland’s parliament in early February 2013 after emergency overnight legislation was passed in the Dáil, Ireland’s parliament, and KPMG’s Wallace and Richardson replaced IBRC’s Board.

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REIT acquires €130m credit facility with Barclays

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Property investment company Irish Residential Properties REIT plc (Ires Reit) has entered into a two year €130 million credit facility arranged by Barclays Ireland, secured against the company’s assets, which will allow the company to grow and achieve its investment goals.

The firm, which is a subsidiary of Toronto-based Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (CAP REIT), followed Hibernia REIT and Green REIT onto the Irish Stock Exchange in April, when it raised €200 million. Its focus is on buying and managing investments in the apartment blocks in urban areas across in Ireland.

In June Irish Residential Properties REIT plc acquired a block of 84 luxury apartment suites adjacent to the five-star Marker Hotel in the Grand Canal Dock area of Dublin for €50.1 million.

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Irish Exports: Recovery in 2014 taking hold

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Trade data for the first five months of 2014 show that exports volumes grew by 4.3% on the same period in 2013.  Indicators suggest that the Irish manufacturing sector has benefited from stronger external demand, particularly from the UK.

It is reported that some 62,900 sq.m (677,049 sq.ft) of space was transacted in Q2 – almost double the activity in Q1 – bringing the volume of industrial space transacted so far in 2014 to 95,000 sq.m (1,022 million sq.ft).

For more information on available Industrial facilities please contact Niall Brereton on 01 6477 900

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Barclays Bank wins loan financing mandate for Oaktree Capital

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Barclays Bank has won the £335m whole loan financing mandate for Oaktree Capital Management and Patrizia Immobilien’s joint acquisition of the three-strong MEPC UK business parks portfolio.

Oaktree, which is the majority equity investor with at least 90% of the joint venture share, has selected Barclays after a competitive financing process which included a number of investment bank underbidders including Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

The three regional business parks are spread over 4m sq.ft of mixed-use space leased to 510 tenants.

  • The 2m sq ft Hillington Park in Glasgow
  • The 1.2m sq ft Birchwood Park in Warrington, 20 miles east of Liverpool, 20 miles east of Liverpool
  • The 820,000 sq.ft Chineham Park in Basingstoke, 17 miles south west of Reading, which includes MEPC as a tenant.

Oaktree and Patrizia confirmed the closure of the initial all-cash acquisition on Monday, reflecting a net initial yield of 7.3%, while the debt refinancing is scheduled for 25th September,  one week after the Scottish referendum which potentially represents a currency risk in the event of a break-up of the UK.

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Line-up of tenants battle over Grafton Street

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Only four months after opening the Cos fashion store on Dublin’s Wicklow Street, the giant H&M fashion group has emerged as the favourite to put another of its luxury brands, & Other Stories, into the former A|wear shop on Grafton Street. The letting is likely to be confirmed later this month.

The line-up of tenants chasing the three-level floor plates at 26-27 Grafton Street includes American fashion chains Gap, Gant and Anthropologie, UK shoe retailer Schuh, the Spanish Inditex company, Zara Home, German fashion house Hugo Boss, the Irish-based Lifestyle Sports as well as & Other Stories. Some of the companies chasing the premises are understood to have offered at least €50,000 more than the quoted rent of €850,000 per annum.

The five-storey over basement building has the second largest retail area on the street after BT2 – apart from the department stores – with more than 882 sq.m (9,500 sq.ft) at basement, ground and first floor levels. The owners of the building, Aviva Investors, are planning to carry out a major upgrading of the block early next year including the installation of a new façade. In the meantime, the retail area has been let to HMV on a short term lease until next January at a rent which equates to €750,000 per annum. With the three top floors of offices extending to 836 sq.m (9,000 sq.ft) also to benefit from the refurbishment.

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RBS shortlists for Project Achill Final Round

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Royal Bank of Scotland has selected a shortlist of three private equity funds and one investment bank – Lone Star, Cerberus Capital Management, Oaktree Capital Management and Deutsche Bank – to progress to the second and final round for the nominally-valued €1.2bn Project Achill portfolio, following first round bids which were submitted on 1 August. The four finalists are understood to have bid for the majority of Project Achill, which comprised 31 separate borrower connections over six subpools originally extended to Ulster Bank, an RBS subsidiary.

The underlying properties within Project Achill include:

  • Belfast’s upmarket The ARC Apartments with 207 units at Titanic Quarter and the 130,569 sq.ft Gateway Offices, which is 90% leased to Citigroup to June 2024
  • A loan secured by the Forge Shopping Centre in Glasgow; the Ards Shopping Centre in Newtownards, 10 miles east of Belfast; Waterfront Plaza in Belfast, anchored by PwC and Mallusk Industrial Estate in Newtonabbey
  • A suburban Dublin office and retail portfolio over 118,669 sq.ft, including 1-5 Leopardstown Retail Park and Unit 33 Sandyford Office Park
  • The IBIS & Novotel Hotels in Friar Street, Reading
  • A Primark retail store at 62-74 Burleigh Street in Cambridge
  • Russell & Bromley’s store in Princes Street, Edinburgh
  • Independent House, Talbot Street in Dublin (which is home to the Irish Independent)
  • Exchange House in Belfast
  • Blackrock Business Park in Blackrock, Ireland
  • 16 completed residential units in Skerries and Malahide; a 128-acre land site with planning permission in Kinsealy, Skerries and Bettytown; 25 Merrion Square, an office block in Dublin; and 15 houses in Barnageeragh
  • A 16-strong mixed-use portfolio comprising residential, retail and office assets in Cork over 218,079 sq.ft, with a 74.5% occupancy

It is understood that second round biding bids on Project Achill, which is being sold by Eastdil Secured on behalf of RBS, have been called for Friday 19 September.

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New partnership in Northside Shopping Centre

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Patron Capital Partners has formed a new retail and residential partnership with Brian O’Callaghan, the son of well-known Cork developer Owen O’Callaghan.

Patron has already begun working on its first joint project with Mr O’Callaghan to operate and expand the Northside Shopping Centre on the northern fringe of the M50 in Coolock, Co Dublin.

The UK and Luxembourg property fund with €2.5 billion under management acquired the centre in May from NAMA. The shopping centre was a key asset in a portfolio of loans “Project Drive” bought by Patron, which are associated with developer Brian O’Farrell. Project Drive had an outstanding loan balance of €228m which implies an approximate discount of 78.5%. Other assets in the portfolio include a retail centre in Poland, a potentially valuable site in north Dublin and a large house in the K Club.

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Eircom plans transfer to Jersey

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Eircom has announced plans to transfer the assets and liabilities of its main operating company to a new entity incorporated in Jersey. Last April, Eircom announced it was undertaking a formal review, advised by Goldman Sachs, Rothschild and Morgan Stanley, of its future “strategic options”, including a possible flotation that could value it at between €2.5 – €3 billion.

The former State-owned company announced that is considering another listing on the stock market, which would be its third in the space of just 15 years. The government initially floated the company in 1999 only for it to subsequently return to private ownership two years later, before being re-floated in 2004 for another two-year period. It emerged from bankruptcy protection in 2012 after a 40% debt write-off worth €1.8 billion.

Microsoft to build Mega HQ in Leopardstown subject to levy

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Us computer giant Microsoft has been granted permission to build new headquarters in Leopardstown in Dublin to accommodate up to 2,000 staff, subject to €8m council levy.

The proposed office development on a three-hectare site at South County Business Park on Leopardstown Road would have to meet 35 conditions set out by the council’s planning department.

The total gross floor area of the concrete structure is at 34,554 sq.m. There would be 558 car parking spaces, with 343 on surface level. The basement would also include 24 motorcycle spaces and bicycle spots.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown council seeks funds for parks, roads and public transport. If permission is granted, the development will commence in late 2014 and be fully operational in two years.

Shelbourne Hotel acquired by US property investment group

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The Shelbourne Hotel has been acquired by US property investment group Kennedy Wilson, which is planning to invest millions of euro into the business to build on its status as the top five-star hotel in Dublin. This will include a facelift for the hotel’s facade, which is considered a “priority project”. Plans are also being developed to add a hair and beauty salon to its existing spa facilities, and to refurbish its 19 suites and public areas.

Ownership of this prized asset has switched from Jerry O’Reilly and John Sweeney, the remaining owners from a consortium that acquired the hotel in 2004. Other members of the consortium included Bernard McNamara, who was recently declared bankrupt in Britain.

The receivership has no impact on the operation of the hotel, with all sums owed to staff, trade creditors and the Revenue Commissioners to be paid in full by the new owners.

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