Property giant with interests in Lancashire sees massive profits hit due to retail struggle

Land Securities which used to own the St John’s Shopping Centre in Preston, signed a deal with Lancashire County Council to develop the Cuerden regional investment site and has the Blackpool Retail Park, said it lost £837m before tax during the 2020 financial year, almost seven times higher than 2019.

It comes as the Covid crisis took strips out of an already struggling British high street, ripping a fifth of the value of Landsec’s retail portfolio.

Its retail parks and regional centres suffered worse than others, it said.

Although Landsec saw better performances elsewhere - its office space even grew in value by one per cent - the overall portfolio is still 8.8 per cent less valuable than this time last year. A drop of £1.18bn.

It blamed the coronavirus pandemic for a third of this.

It said: “Even before we saw the impact of Covid-19, it was clear that the retail market was having another tough year as it wrestled with structural challenges and property values fell further as a result."

This time last year, the company wrote down its portfolio by £557m.

The pressures faced by retailers who have entered administration - or a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) which lets them reduce their debts to landlords, among others - had a knock-on effect on Landsec.

Landsec said that 31 of its customers, who occupied 94 of its sites, entered either administration or a CVA last year.