Grosvenor profits dip despite "solid" year, issues new carbon commitment

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Apr 26, 2023

Grosvenor Group’s vast property portfolio “faced challenging economic conditions” in fiscal 2022 but the good news is that the business “delivered a solid overall financial performance in line with our expectations,” its CEO Mark Preston said delivering its latest results and an update on its eco projections.

Despite that “solid” financial performance, profits still fell sharply last year.

The Duke of Westminster-owned London-centric property empire includes 300 acres of the West End’s Mayfair and Belgravia together with the successful Liverpool One mall, but also a number of properties abroad. 

It made a pre-tax profit of £110.4 million in 2022, but that was 75% down on the £437.5 million recorded in the previous year as a post-pandemic bounce failed to be repeated last year.

Revenue profits (profits that exclude valuation changes) almost halved to £52.7 million, from £99.7 million in 2021. The company blamed the fall on a number of one-offs, including the sale of a huge industrial park in the West Midlands, which inflated the prior year’s performance.

At £9 billion, the value of its portfolio remained mostly unchanged, with valuation declines in its offices portfolio offset by increases in stores and flats.

But Preston said Grosvenor was benefiting from the “flight to quality” which has emerged across all types of commercial property in recent years. “What we’re seeing now is this polarisation between best and the rest,” he said. “Those buildings which are up to scratch are attracting a lot of interest, strong rents and strong occupancy. Those which are not are very different.”

The company had previously said that vacancies in its core Mayfair and Belgravia properties were very low.

But looking ahead, the chief executive said the business expects the remainder of 2023 “to be very challenging, which will continue to weigh on property values but also provide opportunities for the long-term investor”. 

The group also delivered a “new global carbon commitment” that will see all Grosvenor businesses reduce direct and indirect emissions… in line with limiting global warming to 1.5°C. It said it was building on a 24% reduction in its emissions over two years, with its UK property business already having a verified science-based target to be net zero by 2040.