St Modwen's pipeline progresses

Solid progress has been achieved on all the group's major development projects. At the 57-acre New Covent Market site in London, a revised planning application was submitted in May. By squeezing the existing flower and vegetable markets into a smaller space, St Modwen hopes to free up 20 acres of land to accommodate 3,000 new homes, 135,000 square feet of office space and 100,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space. Assuming it gains planning consent, development work is expected to start in the first half of next year.

Meanwhile, redevelopment of the 468-acre former car works in Birmingham continues, with almost all of the retail space in the first phase now fully let. Last month, the company secured a resolution to grant planning consent for the second phase, which will include a 150,000 sq ft Marks & Spencer store and 45,000 sq ft of additional retail space. Work here is expected to start this autumn, with completion scheduled for December 2015. St Modwen has also started the next phase of Swansea University's £450m student campus project, comprising an additional 545 student apartments.

Net rental income from the investment portfolio rose from £14.3m to £15.5m, easily covering £10.4m of administrative expenses. The debt portfolio has also been restructured, essentially to reduce finance costs and stretch average maturity out from 2.5 years to 4.2 years. In February, St Modwen raised £100m through a bond issue, which was used to pay down existing debt. With other revolving credit facilities renegotiated, the weighted average interest rate has been cut from 5.6 per cent to 5.1 per cent.