Derwent London, the central London office focussed REIT, has benefited from strong lettings this year to reduce its vacancy rate in its £2.5bn portfolio.
In its interim management statement today, it revealed a resilient performance, improved by a spate of lettings which it expects to produce an income of £14.7m a year.
It has let 408,000 sq ft in the last nine months, and has a further 35,000 sq ft under offer which, if the deals complete, will bring in an additional £1m a year.
The REIT has unused bank facilities of £290m with only £90m to be used by December 2010.
It also has low gearing at 32.6% but faces the refinancing of a £125m loan at the end of 2009.
The group has reduced its development pipeline to three projects which are 57% pre-let and requires around £100m to complete.
John Burns, CEO at Derwent London said: ‘We have a strong balance sheet which puts us in a strong position to ride out the current challenging conditions. During these times, we will concentrate on maintaining income, minimising vacancies and managing our capital expenditure programme, to ensure that we benefit from the recovery when it arrives.’
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