Merrion Centre growth for TCS

The Merrion Centre made more money for its owners in 2010 than it did the previous year.

Leeds based property Town Centre Securities, announcing its results for the six months ended 31 December 2010, said the centre had increased revenues by 4.7 per cent and had voids of less than 2.5 per cent.

Its void levels are now just three per cent, below the average for the entire of Leeds, where 12 per cent of all commercial properties are empty.

The firm banked an underlying profit of £7.8m, up from £2.5m for the same period in 2009, and had less than five per cent of void space across its entire portfolio, mainly at its Urban Exchange building in Manchester.

Edward Ziff, chairman and chief executive, said: “The first half of this financial year has seen us continue to focus on managing our existing portfolio of investment properties and car parks.

“We have reported a significant improvement in our underlying profitability. This follows the continued focus on reducing occupancy voids and the rebasing of our operating costs and interest charges.

“Our Merrion Centre retail void level is three per cent compared with 12 per cent for the whole of Leeds. We have a very balanced spread of tenants with only one tenant with four tenancies, two tenants with three and seven with two.

“The Merrion Centre remains at the heart of our business and our asset management plans will add long-term value for shareholders.”

Last July, TCS took back the management of the Merrion Centre multi-storey car park and introduced new Town Centre Car Park branding, which it said had increased footfall in the Merrion Centre.