Crown Estate : The royal family’s commercial property empire has delivered a record £304.1 million to Treasury coffers and seen the value of its portfolio rise 9.7% to £12 billion.
The Crown Estate, which owns large swathes of land and property across Britain, said its income rose 6.7% last year as it reaped the benefits of a regeneration plan and its offshore wind assets.
Chief executive Alison Nimmo said: “We have outperformed the market and benefited from our team’s expertise and disciplined commitment to our core sectors.
“With markets continuing to be fully priced, we have secured our long-term sustainable growth through the active management of world-class office and retail destinations, the strength and timing of the largest development pipeline in our history, together with the UK’s world leading position in offshore wind.”
The Crown Estate owns Regent Street and much of St James’s in central London, Windsor Great Park, large amounts of rural farmland and the entire UK seabed. It leases the seabed to offshore wind farms, and the amount generated from these operations rose nearly 20% to £22.9 million over the year.
A £1.5 billion regeneration of Regent Street and St James’s helped the group let out all of its West End shops.
Nevertheless, Ms Nimmo added that she remains “cautious about the outlook for the market”.
