Leasing progress at Group Property in Warsaw

First Property Group PLC

25 July 2024

 

Date:	25 July 2024
On behalf of:	First Property Group plc ("First Property", the "Company" or the "Group")
Embargoed:	Immediate Release

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 7 OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATIONS (EU) NO. 596/2014 WHICH FORMS PART OF DOMESTIC UK LAW PURSUANT TO THE EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018 ("UK MAR").

First Property Group plc

Leasing progress at Group Property in Warsaw, Poland

First Property Group plc (AIM: FPO), the property fund manager and investor, is pleased to report that it has signed a new 15 year lease with TV República for 3,100 square metres in Blue Tower, its directly owned office building in Warsaw. The space had hitherto been vacant.

The lease is due to commence in December 2024 following completion of fit-out works. 

The rent payable will be €16.55 per square metre per month together with a service charge of €7 per square metre per month. In total this lease will contribute some €935,000 per annum (£800,000 per annum). The cost of the fit-out, which will be borne by the landlord, amounts to some €1.80 million (£1.54 million).

A balance of 1,800 square metres of office space remains to be leased in the tower. If let at the same rent and service charge level as that agreed with TV República, the additional contribution to Group profit before tax would exceed €508,000 per annum (£435,000 per annum). 

The Group is also pleased to announce that, following an exercise in ratioinalising overhead costs, it has instituted savings of some £650,000 per annum. The full benefit of these savings will be experienced in the year to 31 March 2026.

To fund, amongst other things, the capital expenditure associated with the new lease and to further underpin its balance sheet, the Group intends to raise new equity capital by way of a pre-emptive offer to shareholders and a further announcement in this regard is expected to be made in due course.   

ENDS

For further information please contact:

First Property Group plc	Tel: [phone]
Ben Habib (Chief Executive Officer) Laura James (Group Finance Director) Jeremy Barkes (Director, Business Development) Jill Aubrey (Director, Compliance & Company Secretary)	[e-mail]
Allenby Capital (NOMAD & Broker)	Tel: + 44 (20) 3328 5656
Nick Naylor / Daniel Dearden-Williams (Corporate Finance) Amrit Nahal / Tony Quirke (Sales and Corporate Broking)

Notes to Investors and Editors:

First Property Group plc is an award-winning property fund manager and investor with operations in the United Kingdom and Central Europe. Its focus is on higher yielding commercial property with sustainable cash flows. The Company is flexible and takes an active approach to asset management. Its earnings are derived from:

·         Fund management - via its FCA regulated and AIFMD approved subsidiary, First Property Asset Management Ltd ("FPAM"), which earns fees from investing for third parties in property. FPAM currently manages twelve funds which are invested across the United Kingdom, Poland and Romania.

·         Group properties - principal investments by the Group to earn a return on its own capital, usually in partnership with third parties. Investments comprise six directly held properties in Poland, one in Romania, and non-controlling interests in nine of the twelve funds managed by FPAM.

Quoted on AIM, the Company has offices in London and Warsaw. Further information about the Company and its properties can be found at: www.fprop.com. To receive RNS alerts by email please subscribe here.

 

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