Business
Great Portland Estates Full Year Results 2020
Great Portland Estates Full Year Results 2020.
About this update from Great Portland Estates Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n \n RNS Number : 4075N\n Great Portland Estates PLC\n 20 May 2020\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 20 May 2020\n \n \n \n Annual results: Strong operational performance; resilient business\n \n \n The Directors of Great Portland Estates plc announce the unaudited results for the Group for the year ended 31 March 2020. \n \n \n \n \n \n Toby Courtauld, Chief Executive, said:\n \n \n \n \n \n \"I am pleased to report on a strong operational performance for the year, with GPE today in the enviable position of being both well placed to withstand the impacts from the COVID crisis and able to look to our future with confidence.\n \n \n \n \n \n Whilst much of the year to March 2020 was characterised by political and economic uncertainty, nothing could have prepared us for the social and economic consequences of the COVID pandemic and I am proud of the response from each and every member of the GPE team. We are engaging extensively with our occupiers, offering assistance on a case by case basis and have established a new community fund, seeded by GPE's people to bring some relief to those in London hardest hit by the crisis. \n \n \n \n \n \n As we examine the implications for our business, it is clear that we must plan for a recession with an increase in unemployment, leading to reduced occupational demand for space, implying falling rental and capital values. Key to our market's performance will be both the depth of the downturn and the shape of the recovery. Given this uncertainty, we are pausing the provision of guidance on rental value movements until the picture becomes clearer. Whatever the outcome, whilst some working practices might change, our human desire to congregate and create underpins our belief that London's magnetic appeal as a global business capital will persist for the long term. This belief is reinforced by our current leasing discussions, illustrating occupiers' ongoing appetite to secure high quality, sustainable space.\n \n \n \n \n \n Guided by our strong purpose and unifying values, we have positioned GPE for any market eventuality; our low leverage is both defensive and gives us significant capacity for growth; our portfolio is virtually fully let, off low rents and has material upside potential from our extensive development pipeline; and our talente...