Grosvenor makes record pre-tax profit

Grosvenor Group has reported record results for the 2014 calendar year, with pre-tax profit hitting an all-time high of £681.8m.

Pre-tax profit was up from £506.9m in 2013. Grosvenor’s development pipeline stood at £5.5bn at the end of 2014.

The client - owned by the Duke of Westminster - said it had unused committed financial capacity of £1.1bn, which it said would allow it to increase future investment and development activity, as well as providing it with a cushion against the impact of any market downturn.

Grosvenor projects in 2014 included the opening of the five star art-deco Beaumont Hotel in Mayfair, which incorporated an habitable sculpture by Sir Antony Gormley (pictured).

Mark Preston, chief executive of Grosvenor Group, said: “2014 saw strong returns across all regions. Having made significant disposals in 2013 to take advantage of high market values in the London residential sector, we’re now able to focus on investment through our £5.5bn international development pipeline.

“In terms of our markets and their prospects, China is already slowing, the USA and UK are mid-cycle and Continental European markets are still in early recovery, as is Japan. This lack of correlation means that we can be selective in pursuit of our long-term objective to diversify our investments by geography, asset type and management team.

“This process of diversification began more than 60 years ago with our first North American investment and, with £1.1bn of unused financial capacity, we continue to pursue that objective today. In terms of performance, we anticipate lower total returns over the next few years in keeping with general expectations of our markets, which are around 8%.”