Troubled serviced office operator Regus has appointed letting agents to some of its flagship centres to help tie in tenants for longer lets where large voids are approaching.
Mark Dixon's company has seen its share price fall from a high of 400p in February to a low of just 9.5p last week. It has decided that in the light of the slowdown in the market, it needs to build closer relationships with agents, particularly where large voids in individual schemes are on the cards.

Regus has already instructed BH2 and Jones Lang Lasalle to jointly market 1,670 sq m (18,000 sq ft) at 88 Wood Street and 1,860 sq m (20,000 sq ft) at its centre at 1 Poultry, both in the City of London.

DTZ has been appointed to market 100 workstations due to become available in November in Tower 42, also in the City, while CB Hillier Parker is to let surplus space in the St James's Square centre in the West End.

Regus corporate development director Tim Worboys explained: 'Up until now our relationships with retained agents have not been as close as they could have been. We want to manage the portfolio carefully with a mixture of short-, long- and medium-term income.'

However, he stressed that the space offered in the centres would still be a serviced offices.

He said that Regus was targeting terms of two to five years, although anything up to 10 years would be considered.