Liberty International loses £458m in property values

Posted under General by Alan

The property company, Liberty international, which is also the owner of London’s Covent Garden, suffered huge loss of £458m in first six months of the current year. The weakening retail sector has impacted real estate downturn. Liberty International is the UK’s biggest shopping centre landlord. More than 13% of its net value per share has been wiped off.

Liberty suffered 7.4% fall in its property valuation amounting to £639m off its £8bn portfolio. The company registered £458m pre-tax loss as against £552m profit a year ago. According to the company information, its rental income fell by 0.7% and like-for-like basis income dropped by 2.6%, since the company was forced to pay bad debts of tenants in administration.

Chief executive David Fischel is predicting low consumer spending, but is confident of outperforming market average. Meanwhile, new schemes including Westgate development in Oxford have been put on hold. The rate of progress at St. David has also become a cause of worry since only 32% is let by income, while the centre is scheduled to open just after 12 months.

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