intu’s UK portfolio comprises 17 shopping centres, including eight of the top 20. 

David Fischel, intu chief executive, commented: “intu has again delivered a resilient operational performance which demonstrates how our centres differentiate themselves as winning destinations for retailers with their variety and excitement. We own and manage many of the best shopping centres, in some of the strongest locations, in the UK and Spain.

In a difficult year for the whole UK retail real estate sector, and with very limited comparable transactional evidence, property valuations declined as sentiment weakened significantly. We reported a further 3% fall in valuations in the final quarter of 2018, additional to the 9% fall over the first nine months of the year. As a result, EPRA NNNAV at the end of the year was 271p per share, down from 349p the year before.

Although the sentiment in the retail sector is at an all-time low, the reality is that around 400m shoppers visit our centres each year and occupancy is at 97%. As some 85% of all retail transactions still touch a physical store, demand from major retailers continues to be positive for our centres.

New tenants to our centres include Abercrombie & Fitch, Uniqlo, Bershka, and Monki, with established retailers such as Next, Primark, Zara and River Island all upsizing. Our tenants invested a record £144m in their stores over the year, a clear indication that these retailers see great physical space as a key part of a successful multichannel strategy.”

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