Shaftesbury Capital Reports Strong 2025 Growth and Covent Garden Partnership

• Retail shone with ERV up 8.1% and valuation up 10.4%.
• Carnaby | Soho ERV rose 7.5%; Chinatown was up 5.5%.
• Offices are letting, with prime suites topping £110 per sq ft.

Valuations, yields and portfolio mix

The like-for-like portfolio valuation rose 6.6% to £5.4 billion, driven by leasing wins and a modest 2 basis point inward move in the equivalent yield to 4.43%. The net initial yield sits at 3.6% and the topped-up yield at 3.9%.

Mix matters, and Shaftesbury’s is balanced for the West End:

• Retail 36% of value.
• Food & beverage 33%.
• Offices 19%.
• Residential 12%.

Retail and F&B benefit from high footfall and tourism, while the office strategy skews to high-quality, well-located space. That blend has supported rental growth and footfall-led resilience.

Balance sheet, debt and liquidity

The numbers here are comfortably conservative for a FTSE-250 West End REIT:

• EPRA LTV 16.8% and interest cover 396.4%.
• Weighted average cost of debt 3.6% gross, 3.4% net, with 100% of drawn debt protected.
• £1.0 billion of liquidity and modest capital commitments of £8.9 million.

Near-term maturities are manageable. The £275 million exchangeable bonds fall due in March 2026 and the Group expects to repay from cash on balance sheet. Management signals total finance costs should be broadly flat overall in 2026, though the average cost of debt may drift higher as cheaper debt rolls off.

Dividend, earnings and returns

Underlying earnings per share rose 12% to 4.5p as rents and cost efficiencies did the heavy lifting. The dividend is up 14% to 4.0p, fully covered by underlying earnings and payable as a PID. On the equity side, EPRA NTA per share increased 14.5p to 214.7p, delivering a 9.1% total accounting return. Total property return was 10.1%, ahead of the MSCI UK benchmark at 7.1%.

Sustainability and stewardship

Progress on environmental performance continues. As at December, 94% of ERV is EPC A to C and 85% of commercial EPCs are A or B by ERV. Scope 1 and 2 emissions fell 29% year on year, with a 7% reduction in associated scope 3. The Net Zero Carbon target is set for 2040, aligned with SBTi. For a portfolio of heritage West End assets, that is meaningful execution, not just ambition.

What could go wrong? Key watch-outs for 2026

• Macro and geopolitics – a change in consumer sentiment or travel patterns would feed through to retailers and restaurants.
• Cost pressure for occupiers – higher wages and input costs could test affordability, though current leasing premia suggest headroom.
• Refinancing costs – as low-cost debt matures, the weighted cost of debt may rise.
• Regulation – residential reform and building safety rules add complexity and cost.

My take for retail investors

This is a high-quality, hard-to-replicate West End portfolio showing exactly what you want to see in a landlord: rising ERVs, hefty reversion, low vacancy and disciplined leverage. The NBIM partnership in Covent Garden is both a stamp of approval and a funding release that has reset the balance sheet.

Near term, the story is about converting that 26% reversion into cash rent and keeping occupancy near full. Medium term, management is guiding to 5 to 7% rental growth, supporting total property returns of 7 to 9% and total accounting returns of 8 to 10% per annum, assuming stable yields. Risks are there, as ever, but the West End’s scarcity and global appeal continue to do the heavy lifting.

Net result: a strong year that tightens the screws on income growth, underpinned by prime locations and a healthier balance sheet. If you are following UK REITs, this is one of the clearer growth-and-quality stories in town.