Crown Estate hit by Edinburgh property sales and harsh winter

Published on Thursday 15 July 2010 15:53

SNOW, flooding and the sale of two properties in Edinburgh hit the Crown Estate's full-year profits, according to figures published yesterday.

Revenue from the Crown Estate in Scotland fell by 25.6 per cent in the year to 31 March to 13.1 million, with profits - or gross surplus - dropping by 41.3 per cent to 9.1m.

The body - which manages the Queen's hereditary estates on behalf of the nation - has a marine estate that includes 50 per cent of Scotland's foreshore and the seabed out to 12 nautical miles, along with 102,000 acres across its five rural estate and urban estate property investments in Edinburgh.

Two properties - the Princes Exchange office development at Tollcross, which is let to businesses including law firms McGrigors and Turcan Connell, and 127-8 Princes Street, occupied by Waterstone's and Game - were sold for 67.1m.

The sale led to a 52.5 per cent decline in revenue from the urban estate to 2.8m. The Crown Estate also owns 50 per cent of the Kinnaird Park retail park on the edge of the Scottish capital.

In the rural estate, revenue dropped by 2.8 per cent to 3.5m following extensive flooding on the Fochabers estate in Moray and Applegirth in Dumfriesshire.

Heavy snow in Glenlivet caused roofs to collapse and the Crown Estate plans to spend 1m replacing and strengthening buildings in the current financial year.

Revenue from the marine estate fell by 16 per cent to 6.8m, reflecting a one-off benefit in 2008-9 from a change of accounting procedures in the aquaculture business.

Chief executive Roger Bright said: "Although not as good as in previous years, we are nevertheless pleased with our results in Scotland, given the challenging circumstances in which they have been achieved."

Gareth Baird, Scottish commissioner of the Crown Estate, added: "Throughout the year, we have focused on long- term investment, which will not only benefit our customers but will also create sustainable economic benefits for Scotland as a whole.

"Nowhere is this more true than with renewable energy, where we are supporting the development of offshore wind, wave and tidal power."

Throughout the UK as a whole, the Crown Estate generated profits of 210.7m for the national coffers, a 7 per cent year-on-year fall.

Total UK revenues rose by 17 per cent to 321.3m, with Bright revealing that the body was in the early stages of discussions to sell a stake in its retail properties on London's Regent Street.

The capital value of the portfolio rose by 10.4 per cent to 6.6 billion in the period as property prices began to recover following the recession.

In Scotland, the Crown Estate includes Applegirth, near Lockerbie; Fochabers, to the east of Elgin; Glenlivet, on the edge of the Cairngorms; land around Stirling Castle; and the Whitehill estate in Midlothian, which includes Roslin Glen.

South of the Border, the body's lands include almost all of the property in London's Regent Street and Regent's Park; Windsor Great Park, a royal park visited by about 2.5 million people each year; and more than 66,000 acres of grazing land forming the Welsh commons.

The Crown Estate also includes a gold mine in Northern Ireland and salmon fishing rights in Scotland.

What is the Crown Estate?

THE Crown Estate is made up of land owned by the monarch, with revenues generated by the estate paid into the Treasury.

Money from the Crown Estate has gone to the Chancellor since 1760, when George III agreed the estate should be managed on behalf of the UK government, with the king in return receiving a fixed annual payment, known today as the civil list. Over the past ten years, the Crown Estate has paid a total of 1.9 billion to the Treasury.

In his emergency Budget on 22 June, Chancellor George Osborne froze the civil list at 7.9 million, a figure that hasn't changed for the past 20 years. Osborne said he had held the amount with the support of the Queen..