Good morning. Welcome to Shaftesbury Capital's Annual Results P resentation. I'm joined today by our executive committee, Situl, Michelle, and Andrew. This is the agenda: I'll begin with an overview, and Situl will present the financial review. I'll then provide an update on the portfolio, and we will finish with a summary and outlook followed by questions. We presented to many of you at our inaugural investor and analyst event at the end of last year and set out our purpose, strategy, and priorities. And I have to say, we're delighted with the pace and the performance, in our first year. We have rising rents, leasing transactions are well ahead of ERVs, and cost savings are above our initial ambitions. Footfall across the West End portfolio is strong, with high occupancy levels and customer sales are 10% up, on a year-on-year basis.
I'll just move the slides ahead a little bit. Valuations were broadly unchanged, and we've completed the sale of a number of properties. These were ahead of valuation, and several other assets are under offer. During the year, we completed the refinancing of GBP 550 million of debt, further strengthening our financial position. Of course, implementing our strategy and priorities is not possible without our talented and experienced team. And I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of our people for their commitment through what has been a period of significant change, and we're now seeing the benefits of working together in the merger through our enhanced operating platform and the results that we're presenting today. So overall, integration is very well advanced, and we've renewed our purpose, which is to invest to create thriving destinations in London's West End, where people enjoy visiting, working, and living.
We've set some clear company priorities in order to achieve our medium-term targets of an annualized total property return of 7%-9% and a total accounting return of 8%-10%. So our strategy is very straightforward. We're looking to deliver long-term income and value growth. We place the customer at the heart of our business, to deliver best-in-class service. We look to be creative and take an active approach to our portfolio, investing in these remarkable destinations and refreshing the offer through a holistic and dynamic marketing strategy and improvements to our properties and to the public realm. We have a prudent approach to financial leverage, and we're very focused on maintaining cost and capital discipline. Overall, though, we do believe in the responsible stewardship of the places that we're responsible for.
And by working in partnership with the wider community and stakeholders in the West End, we're looking to positively contribute to the long-term success of the West End as a whole. Just to remind you a little bit about the portfolio, we do own what isn't impossible to replicate portfolio properties. It's located in some of the most iconic destinations across the center of London's West End. You'll be familiar with all of these, but the Covent Garden area, Carnaby Street, including our investments in Soho and Chinatown. It's a GBP 4.8 billion portfolio. It's around 2.9 million sq ft of lettable space. There's around 600 or so predominantly freehold properties and some 2,000 or so individual units for let.
It's a well-balanced portfolio: 34% retail, 34% hospitality, and the remaining 32% is in the upper floors of the buildings, which comprise high-quality office accommodation and good-quality residential, around 700 individual residential apartments. So, within that portfolio, we do offer a very diverse wide range of accommodation for occupiers. We have a wide mix of income streams, and we do offer a range of unit sizes, which appeals to a number of different occupier groups. And hence, we have a wide range of rental tone across the overall portfolio. Looking a little bit more in detail, Covent Garden represents a little over half of the portfolio.
It's now established as a world-class retail and dining destination, and we do see this location as the most immediate area of opportunity, as we rapidly enhance the adjacencies of the various component parts of Covent Garden, creating better linkages both physically and through marketing the area as a single district. Carnaby in Soho is a very vibrant mixed-use area, as you know. It's got some iconic shopping, and there's a very strong day-to-night restaurant scene. We do see an opportunity to evolve the mix here and enhance the offer to the consumer over the coming years. Europe's premier Chinatown is located right in the center of the West End's entertainment district. It's maintained very high occupancy. It provides very strong resilient cash flows, and those cash flows are growing. Just a little bit about London.
You've heard me talk about this over many years, but there's no doubt that London is a leading global city. It has positive economic prospects. It's the leading European city for foreign direct investment, for example, and we are seeing very strong levels of international visitor growth, and those are projected by a number of observers into the future. As I mentioned, our properties are located in the heart of the West End's entertainment and cultural attractions. We benefit from excellent connectivity, very close proximity to the main underground stations, and other transport hubs such as the Elizabeth Line, which I believe has had over 250 million passenger journeys since it's opened and has really made a major impact, certainly in the West End but for our portfolio. We have an adaptable mixed-use portfolio. It's got as long history of sustained demand.
That demand in most situations exceeds supply, and that underpins the long-term prospects for rental growth. Obviously, we've seen higher interest rates over the last couple of years. This has had an impact on valuations, as you all know, and the overall investment market for real estate. But prime West End, where we operate, the investment yields there, which predominantly relate to smaller lot sizes, generally freehold properties, has remained resilient. And you can see that, not just in the sales that we've made but also in the valuations for the majority of the portfolio. We're also seeing a broad pool of investors. They're attracted to central London real estate, particularly in the heart of the West End, and that's been the case with the recent sales that we've announced and some of the properties that we're negotiating for sale at the moment.
So can we just turn a little bit to the financial headlines? It has been a strong year. We have progressed in all of the areas that we wish to progress this year. ERV has improved by 7% like for like to GBP 237 million. The equivalent yield has softened a little bit 26 basis points during the year to 4.34%, a little bit more in the second half, 16 basis points in the second half. That overall combination of ERV growth, slight softening of yields, has given a relatively stable valuation. It's down a little bit 0.8% of GBP 4.8 billion. As a result of that, our net tangible assets increased by GBP 0.08 to GBP 1.90 per share. This is primarily now as a result of the completion of the merger, which has been offset by some of those marginal valuation movements in the second half.
Very pleasingly, cash rents are now significantly up, improved by 10% over the year. We've made very good progress on, on synergies, and have increased the guidance today to an annualized recurring cost saving in the order of GBP 16 million. Balance sheet is very strong, and we have access to significant liquidity. Underlying earnings for the year were GBP 0.037 per share, and the board has proposed a final dividend of GBP 0.0165 per share, which brings the total dividend for the year to GBP 0.0315 per share. Overall, I think this, very resilient performance demonstrates the, the exceptional qualities of the portfolio, the pace of integration, and it's delivering growth now in cash rents, dividends, ERV, and a stable valuation. That's the, the introduction. I'll ask Situl to provide the financial review.
Thank you, Ian. Good morning, everyone. As you've heard, there's been significant progress during 2023 across a number of areas. We have clear priorities consistent with our November presentation, which are centered around rental growth and cash conversion, cost control, and capital discipline, and maintaining a strong balance sheet. So starting with the income statement, as a reminder, this reflects the pre-merger position up to the 6th of March and the combined group from that date. We've included a column showing H2 earnings as a reference point for performance post-merger. Gross rents increased by 13% like for like, reflecting strong letting and asset management activity. In aggregate, commercial lettings and renewals were 13% ahead of previous passing rents, and residential deals were 12% ahead. Underlying net rental income increased to GBP 147 million for the year. Underlying admin costs were GBP 39.3 million, reflecting cost inflation and progress on efficiencies.
We've increased our expectation of total annualized cost synergies to over GBP 16 million, well ahead of our initial guidance. Finance costs of GBP 51.9 million reflect the evolving capital structure, including the effect of refinancing as well as interest rate hedging activity. As we've indicated previously, we will focus on managing the absolute level of finance costs to ensure efficient conversion of income to earnings. Underlying earnings totaled GBP 60.4 million, equivalent to GBP 0.037 per share. Taking into account progression in underlying earnings and cash generation, we've proposed a final dividend of GBP 0.0165 per share, making a total of GBP 0.0315 for the year. Annualized income has increased by GBP 18 million on a like-for-like basis, demonstrating strong momentum and cash conversion. ERV grew by 6.9% during the year, and we have continued to let space at a premium to ERV, 10% on average across over 500 transactions.
Based on the value of current ERV of GBP 237 million, there's the opportunity to grow income by over GBP 40 million. GBP 17 million of this is contracted, and the vast majority of rent frees and step rents should form part of running income by the end of the year. There's a further GBP 6 million under offer, resulting in available-to-let vacancy of 2%. As refurbishment projects complete and space is let, that will further supplement contracted income. A number of these schemes will complete this year, and there is very good occupational interest. As well as growing the top line, we're targeting enhanced net-to-gross income capture over time as we pursue opportunities to manage the portfolio more efficiently. This will be a continuing theme as we align more fully the management of our assets.
We refer to progress on realizing cost synergies, and there will be an ongoing move towards a more effective and efficient organizational structure. We're targeting to improve the EPRA Cost Ratio further towards 30%. Turning now to the balance sheet, the valuation of the whole-year portfolio at GBP 4.8 billion was down slightly, 0.8% like for like, with rental growth being balanced against outward movement in the equivalent yield. Our share of JV and associate property represents an additional GBP 224 million. Net debt of GBP 1.5 billion resulted in an EPRA loan-to-value ratio of 31%. EPRA NTA increased from 182 to 190 pence per share in 2023, including the effect of merger completion. Property valuations were down slightly in the second half of the year. The main driver for this was the yield movement, with equivalent yields moving out by 26 basis points over the year to 4.34%.
The equivalent yield on the commercial portfolio, excluding residential, is now 4.6%. ERV growth was 6.9% with continued momentum in the second half, consistent with strong trading performance for our customers. This was driven by growth across all sectors, with hospitality and leisure over 8% higher and retail up almost 7%. There were particularly positive contributions from Covent Garden and Chinatown, where ERVs increased by 8.7% and 7.6% respectively. We maintain a strong balance sheet with diversified sources of funding, significant covenant headroom, access to liquidity, limited capital commitments, and good credit metrics, which will be enhanced as we grow income. We've completed the refinancing of the loan, which was drawn down as part of the merger to repay the Shaftesbury bonds.
This was done through a combination of a long-term secured loan for GBP 200 million and a medium-term bank facility of GBP 300 million initially, which was upsized to GBP 350 million. We've protected finance costs from interest rate movements by putting in place caps and collars for SONIA exposure of GBP 350 million for this year and GBP 250 million in 2025. We have access to a number of different sources of capital, and the next area of focus for us will be to refinance the 2026 debt maturities as we evolve the capital structure. We maintain access to liquidity through cash and undrawn facilities, totaling GBP 486 million at the 31st of December. The main movements in cash were transaction-related, with operating items and a net investment inflow offset by dividend distributions, non-recurring costs, and the use of some liquidity to reduce debt.
Overall, there's been good progress in 2023, and we have a number of clear priorities consistent with our medium-term return targets. The main elements are meaningful rental growth over the coming years, efficiencies in property and overhead costs, continued capital rotation and investment in the portfolio, and maintaining a strong balance sheet with access to liquidity. And with that, I will now hand back to Ian.
Thanks. Trying to give you a little bit of color behind those numbers now, what's driven what we regard as very strong operational performance. It's primarily as a result of the excellent performance of our colleagues in driving leasing across the portfolio over the last 12 months. The approach we take is very active. It's informed by the knowledge that we hold about the West End, which I think is unique to us. That combination of activity and knowledge does position the business to deliver rental growth, and we're focused on converting the portfolio's reversionary potential into income and cash flows and dividends. As I mentioned earlier, we generated around about 7% ERV growth during the course of the year. This comes from a tremendous amount of leasing, 526 leasing transactions across all uses. They were actually completed at 10% above the 2022 ERV.
So, you know, that provides us confidence for future growth. This slide just highlights some of the, the new brands that we've introduced to the portfolio. They range from independents right through to big-name global concepts. But I think there's a consistency in what they do and why they're attracted to our portfolio is it's the seven days a week trading environment of the West End and this strong continuous footfall, which has continued to improve now quarter-on-quarter, for nearly two years. We have very low vacancy, around about 2% available to let. I'm sure, you'll ask in questions and answers, and Michelle and Andrew will tell you that we've got a very good pipeline of demand for space, which is available and also which we intend to bring to market over the coming months. A little bit on retail.
Very strong leasing that led retail leasing demand. We've got competitive tension now right across all parts of the portfolio, and across a wide range of unit sizes. As I mentioned, the team are using that data that we've pulled from the combination of the two companies, to support cross-marketing initiatives, and that is bearing fruit now with a number of tenants opening in multiple locations across the portfolio. In all, there are about 84 retail transactions, 9.3% ahead of December ERV. Covent Garden has particularly strong performance in the year, significant amount of activity. We're seeing that that combination of the Covent Garden Piazza, with Seven Dials and the Opera Quarter, when this is managed as one area, it really has formed a compelling proposition for our customers and consumers, and we're seeing that translate into excellent performance on the ground.
number of new signings generating 9% ERV growth, quite an extensive range of public realm initiatives that we're planning or on site with, and some fantastic marketing during the course of the year, which has all added to the excitement of the area. That I'm pleased to say that pace has continued so far this year. We've had signings in the first quarter from Nespresso for a new flagship, Dolce & Gabbana, and Trudon. So, you know, a wide range of interest in the area. Also, at Carnaby, we've introduced a number of new concepts. These include Hollister, OG Kicks, both taking space on Foubert's Place. And we've recently introduced Oakley and also Notto on Carnaby Street itself.
And as I mentioned, we do see a really interesting opportunity to build on the heritage, the brand lineup of Carnaby Street and evolve the offer, targeting perhaps categories with higher store productivity over the coming years and taking inspiration from the excitement of the overall Soho environment and the neighbouring streets. This is a bit a new slide for you. What we tried to show here, really, is the range of rents across the portfolio. We feel that by targeting and introducing concepts and brands across the price spectrum, we are aiming to enhance customer sales densities and the overall consumer offer. That broad spread of rents is shown here. So we do appeal to a very, very wide range of occupiers.
The average rents in general are actually well below other parts of prime central London, which means in our view that we have a generally affordable offer. In the context of improving customer sales, you know, our rents remain affordable with scope to improve. But it's all about nurturing these places, marketing these places, and creating an environment where our customers prosper and their sales improve, and that all supports long-term rental growth. Yeah, it's a similar case for hospitality across the business. We've got a little over 400 units, robust demand from casual to premium, very high occupancy. We've really got nothing available to rent at the moment, and where we're bringing new concepts through, there are names against them. That really reflects the strength of the trading prospects for this category. We are evolving the offer.
Covent Garden has had 13 new concepts open, including some great new restaurants like Story Cellar. That's in Seven Dials, Gaucho, which is on James Street, running up to the Piazza, and Notto, which is a lovely pasta bar on Henrietta Street. As I mentioned, we've got a number of new concepts that we're on site with, including a major pre-let to Ergon House, in a property that's anchoring the end of King Street and New Row. We talked at the investor event a little bit about Kingly Court. It's actually a decade of dining now at Kingly Court. We're evolving the lineup there. That's included recently a number of openings. New Filipino restaurant called Donia, which is excellent, and a number of our customers are upsizing, including Imad's, which is a Syrian restaurant.
So here are a few places that I can encourage you to go to, but there's many, many more. Interestingly, Chinatown has increased significantly in popularity over the last 12 months or so. That's resulted in several debut restaurants, as well as very strong rates of renewal, and that's generated ERV growth, just at Chinatown of 7.6%. Some of the places you might wish to go to recently opened are restaurants like YiQi, and a Japanese concept called High Yaki, which is on Newport Place. Just a little bit on the office market. We're seeing strong demand for our places, and I think that's as a result of the vibrancy of the offer that we provide right in the heart of the West End. During the year, we completed a large number of office refurbishments. That's included 72 Broadwick Street.
The rents actually for well-fitted, high-quality space regularly achieve more than GBP 100 per sq ft now. Some of our smaller period buildings are also in high demand. We're extending the fully furnished offer through our Assemble product, and that's offered on flexible leasing packages. Developments at Carnaby and Covent Garden are really quite well positioned in our view to capture the current demand that we're seeing in the market as they offer very high amenity value, and they obviously have very strong environmental credentials. We have a number of those refurbishments ongoing, including a property called The Hyde on Kingly Street, a property on Floral Street, and actually our own former offices on Ganton Street. All of these we delivered this year, and there's plenty of interest in those properties as we speak. Residential lettings across London, that market remains positive.
Interest from a broad range of customers for our portfolio, sustained demand across all unit sizes. Generally, when space does become available, it typically relets, you know, within a matter of days. So we have a very full portfolio at the moment. Overall, there were 338 leasing transactions in the year. They were completed in aggregate at 12% above the previous passing rent, which, you know, we're delighted with. We have a very clear framework for how we allocate capital. This is grounded on a very disciplined approach to investment and returns. We've been actively reviewing opportunities for the creation of value across the portfolio. There are a number of asset management initiatives and refurbishments which are underway and planned, some of which are referred to. We're also well progressed on the recycling of capital that we announced last year.
We've sold to date GBP 145 million worth of real estate. That's been at a premium to the then valuation, and we've got several more properties that are under offer. So we're well on our way to achieving our 5% sales target. And we're also seeing opportunities to acquire properties which we feel will be accretive, and you'll hear more about that in the coming period. But we do have, as Situl mentioned, quite significant liquidity, and we can move quite quickly when market opportunities arise. I hope you've seen our sustainability strategy. We're really hoping that that will minimize the environmental impact of our operations and our business generally. We're aiming to future-proof our heritage properties, creating sustainable and healthy places, where people enjoy visiting, working, and living, you know, directly to the heart of our purpose. We're committed to becoming net-zero carbon by 2030.
We've published a revised net-zero pathway, which is on the website, and our sustainability team are here as well if you've got anything you'd like to discuss with them. Overall, we want to be a leader in this in the U.K. for sustainability of heritage properties, and we will continue to reuse, renew, improve our buildings to enhance our energy performance credentials. We made good progress this year. Around about 80% of the portfolio has EPC ratings of between A and C, and that's a 12% improvement on last year. I mentioned our people earlier. Earlier, what I've been most struck by is that shared passion that we all have for the West End, and I'm very, very pleased and proud of the energy and enthusiasm shown by all of our colleagues, since March the 6th last year. We're also a big part of the community.
We're committed to supporting stakeholders in the community, particularly in the West End, and we'll continue to build on those close relationships that we've had for a number of years and support them in supporting the West End as a whole. So overall, I think we feel well positioned to achieve the strategy that we set out in November, and we're positioned to grow total returns. A summary of our priorities over the next three to five years, just as a reminder. As I said, we've made an excellent start. We do have a clear strategy, clear priorities, and we have set targets for the medium term. We aim to grow rents, earnings, and dividends and realize the long-term potential of our wonderful assets. We are accelerating operational efficiencies. We have a clear focus on providing excellent service to our customer.
The customer is at the heart of our business. But our priority is to maximize the potential from investment opportunities, primarily within the existing portfolio, but also accretive acquisitions and making sure that we make those sustainability enhancements over the coming years. As I talked about, we have a very active approach to the way we manage the portfolio. We're well progressed on our rotation plan, 5% of value. As I mentioned, GBP 140 million of disposal so far. Shaftesbury Capital is financially strong. We have access to significant liquidity, and we're able to act quickly on market opportunities. I'm sure you recognize that we are totally committed to reducing the impact of our operations on the environment and playing our role as a good neighbor in the local community.
And I think by fulfilling these priorities, we believe that our target of an annualized total return of 7%-9% and a total accounting return of 8%-10% over the medium term is achievable. And with the support of our talented team, we're positioned to drive that long-term rental income growth and capital growth and, become the leading London mixed-use REIT. So that's the, the end of the prepared bit. We'll now invite questions. There, there are some people on the phones, I, I believe. So, if you could just, if you've got a question, there's microphones in the rooms. They will come to you. If you could just say who you are, that's helpful. We'll start in the room. If there's any questions, then they will go to the, to the, telephones later on.
Thanks for the presentation. It's Sam Knott from CoLytics. Just on the growth prospects, so you've got a clear sort of 5%-7% aim for the medium term. Is that in is that just on a like-for-like basis, or is that including some capital expenditure to get that growth? And then looking more towards the long term, how sustainable is that given if you expect inflation to be sort of 2%? Can you expect growth to stay at that elevated level, or would you expect it to come back down to maybe more 2%-3%?
Yeah, so there is a little bit of CapEx in the numbers. I mean, we're in the position that we don't need to deploy a significant amount of capital to generate growth. You know, we're not looking at significant developments. We're on site with two or three refurbishments. But this is really about making sure that we're driving the performance of our portfolio and rental growth through making good leasing decisions, marketing the opportunities that we have, and just making them wonderful places for consumers, as well as visitors and residents. So it's really organic growth.
I mean, we obviously do wish to expand the business, and as I said, we are seeing opportunities to deploy capital in assets that we feel are good investments in their own right but actually will add to the whole, particularly some that we're engaged with as we speak. So we're confident that that growth will come through. You know, I think long term, the West End has always been a strong market, and I think we are seeing a number of participants in the West End, whether it's consumers or occupiers, recognize that it is a wonderful place, which is why we're seeing such strong demand.
But if you look at the 10-year performance of rents or even longer, you know, we have seen good rental growth. We're optimistic, not just in the medium term but in the long-term prospects of the West End, but that's very much linked to economic growth, nationally as well as GDP growth in London itself.
Morning. It's Matt Spear from Peel Hunt. Thinking about the momentum in the top line, I think Situl on his rent bridge chart suggested that the majority of the GBP 7.1 million-GBP 7.3 million contracted rent was flowing into income this year. Thinking about the GBP 13.9 million that's in under refurbishments, how much of that could we expect to come into the contracted rent this year, and how much of that is actually either under offer or indeed prelet?
Yeah, shall I start, and then Michelle or Ian may want to provide more color on some of the individual schemes? I think Ian, in his comments, referred to some of the individual schemes, so Ganton Street, Kingley Street, Floral Street, and, and one or two others. They are well advanced. They should complete. There should be physical completion of those this year, and there's been very strong interest in, in, in all of those. So we'd expect, you know, a large part of that, stock of, assets under refurbishment to become income-producing, you know, over the next 12, 12, 18 months. I don't know if there's anything else you want to say on the schemes.
No, no, I think you've covered it. I mean, we're pretty confident in that pipeline. Over the next 12-18 months, we expect that to drop into income, and I think what's been really encouraging, is just the interest on at a prelet level, particularly on some of those offices which make up the majority of that GBP 13.9 million. So we're in pretty good shape, and we expect to be able to convert that in a sensible timeframe.
Perfect. Thank you.
Thanks. It's Zachary Gauge from UBS. Just to pick up again on the point of your ERV projections of 5%-7% per annum. So if you annualised that over a five-year period or sort of the compounded growth rate over a five-year period, you're looking at a 33% uplift for a tenant who signed the lease today in five years' time. Now, how sort of affordable is that potentially for your tenants, particularly thinking about some of the smaller independent occupiers that you have that's really a strength of the portfolio, of course, my predecessor being one of them? Are you sort of comfortable that they'd be able to sort of swallow a 30%-plus increase in rents in year five in addition to, of course, you know, service charges, business rates, everything else going up at the same time?
Yeah, well, that's why we have to make sure that the offer that we have in the West End generally is vibrant, and it's improving footfall and supporting that density growth. I mean, we believe, based on what we're seeing at the moment, that those targets are achievable. And I would point out that, you know, ERVs are still quite a long way behind where they were in 2019, and sales are actually much higher than they were in 2019. And, you know, perhaps some of those cost pressures and operational pressures that were driving some of the economic narrative a year or so ago have abated.
You know, I wouldn't want to comment on individual tenancies such as your former colleague, but, you know, we're seeing very low vacancy, very high demand, and competition across the portfolio. Any more questions in the room? Is there anybody who wishes to ask a question on the telephone? If so, just let the—I don't know why I'm craning my neck, but.
To ask a question over the phone, please do remember pressing star one.
Give it a minute. I know you've all got a runner.
We have a question from Seb King from BNP Paribas. Seb, please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. One question, please, on Fitzrovia. Appreciate it. It's a relatively small part of the overall portfolio, but the underperformance in valuation was quite material, down 17% over the year and then 12% in H2. Can you just comment on some of the moving parts in that and why it was so much weaker relative to the rest of the portfolio, which was much more resilient? Thanks.
Yeah, no, thanks for the question. Yeah, I think it's really about this concentration of prime real estate. You know, the vast majority of what we own is what we would regard as superprime, and those superprime locations are attracting that high level of demand. And we're seeing that reflected in the rental growth across the entirety of Carnaby Street, Covent Garden, Chinatown. You know, once you move into more peripheral locations, you just simply don't have that level of rental growth, and it's the level of rental growth that is really allowing the confidence to be maintained in yields, really. But it is quite noticeable, actually. We have some peripheral properties elsewhere in the portfolio that, you know, we will be looking to dispose of, but they've also had similar adjustments in yields. And I think it's just a general theme in the market.
You know, we, I think, one could argue that those genuinely prime pictures, those superprime pictures, are doing much better than those other locations. That's also reflected in investor demand. You know, we've seen transactions in the core areas where buildings that we sold, you know, the GBP 145 million, they've all been sold at a premium. And a couple of properties actually in that GBP 145 million are in Fitzrovia. And, you know, we're in active negotiations in Fitzrovia at the moment on smaller lot sizes where there is more demand, but the investor pool north of Oxford Street is a lower than it is south of Oxford Street.
I think what I'd encourage you to focus on, though, is the strength of the valuations, and the rental growth in the core areas of the business and also the fact that where we have chosen to exit properties, they've been at an 8% premium to valuation.
Okay. Thanks.
Thank you. Anybody else on the phones? Okay. Well, I'm sure a number of you are heading over to Marble Arch. So, appreciate your attendance today. If there's any follow-up questions, then do let us know, and we'd love to see all of you down on the estate. We've given you some new shops that you can go to and a few new restaurants. If you are down, pop in and see us. We're always happy to show you around. Thank you very much.