Retail Lettings & Living Villages Planning Update

LXB RETAIL PROPERTIES PLC

(the "Company" or the "Group")

Update on Retail Lettings and Living Villages Planning Consent

LXB Retail Properties Plc, the Jersey resident closed-ended real estate investment company focused on edge of town and out of town retail assets, is pleased to provide an update on further pre-lets at a number of the Group's investment properties and on planning consent for the Group's first Living Villages project.

Banbury Gateway

This 285,000 sq ft new retail destination is almost fully pre-let following recent lettings to New Look and Mountain Warehouse covering 19,615 sq ft (14,000 sq ft on ground floor). Only one 1,708 sq ft unit remains and discussions with potential occupiers are ongoing.

M&S, Arcadia, River Island and many other retailers are already open. It is expected that by the end of November all the other stores at Banbury Gateway will have opened, except Next and New Look which are both scheduled to open in February 2016.

The Group expects to sign all leases and to finalise all other matters associated with completion of the investment before the end of 2015, at which time a final balancing payment will be due under the terms of the October 2014 contract with The Crown Estate. The final receipt is expected to be c£1.4m more than was anticipated in the March 2015 interim results.

Biggleswade

The Group has also enjoyed success on pre-letting the space at Biggleswade. Contracts for a pre-letting to Wilko were exchanged recently taking aggregate lettings to 92% of the available ground floor space.

A number of the retailers which have already opened in the first phase are trading ahead of expectations and there is good interest in the remaining three sq ft units. The Group is confident that current discussions will result in pre-lets being exchanged on the remaining space before Practical Completion in spring 2016.

Rushden

Following the successful completion of pre-lettings to M&S, House of Fraser, Primark, H&M and Costa, the Group is pleased to announce that further pre-lets have been exchanged with Jigsaw, Phase Eight and L'Occitane.

The Group plans to increase the leisure offer at Rushden Lakes and contracts have recently been exchanged with Cineworld for a pre-let of a 12 screen multiplex which will anchor the leisure proposals. More than 750 people attended a recent 3 day public consultation to present the leisure proposals and the plans were extremely well received. A planning application for the leisure proposals will be submitted shortly. In addition to these recently exchanged pre-lettings, lawyers are instructed in connection with further potential pre-lets of 47,780 sq ft including more retail and nine restaurant units.

The Group remains confident that it will have satisfied all the conditionality to enable the completion of the sale of Rushden Lakes to The Crown Estate in early 2016. 

Sheppey

Contracts have been exchanged to let a 5,000 sq ft retail unit at Neatscourt Retail Park to The Original Factory Shop, the discount retailer with over 200 stores nationwide. This leaves two further units totalling 15,000 sq ft to let and discussions are being held with several national retailers in respect of these.

Stafford

A pre-let of a six screen multiplex cinema to a national operator is in solicitors' hands. This requires an amendment to the existing planning permission for a cinema and an application for the required layout has been submitted. A decision is anticipated before the end of 2015.

Living Villages - Higher Newham, Truro

The Strategic Planning Committee at Cornwall Council recently resolved to grant planning permission for the Group's Higher Newham Farm proposals which were brought forward by Living Villages in partnership with Cornwall Food Foundation and Duchy College. As is normal, the planning permission is conditional on entering a Section 106 Agreement and discussions on this are well advanced. The proposal, which includes 155 new homes, a community hub, a restaurant and cookery school to be operated by the Cornwall Food Foundation, and a community farm and educational facility which will be run by Duchy College, was supported 16:3 by the Strategic Planning Committee.

Commenting on this progress, Tim Walton, CEO of LXB Adviser LLP, said:-

"We have seen some excellent progress on letting up the remaining space across the Group's retail property investments and I hope there will be more news to report shortly.

We are particularly delighted to have finally secured the Group's first Living Villages planning permission (subject to the Section 106 Agreement). The proposals show that it is possible to deliver new homes in beautiful locations in innovative ways which can attract the overwhelming support of local people and make a major positive contribution to local communities."

For further information please contact:

LXB Adviser LLP Tel: 020 7432 7900

Tim Walton, CEOBrendan O'Grady, FD

J.P. Morgan Cazenove (NOMAD) Tel: 020 7742 4000

Bronson Albery / Paul Hewlett

Buchanan Tel: 020 7466 5000

Charles Ryland/ Sophie McNulty/ Vicky Watkins