Pictured above: John Hammond

Warwickshire based IM Properties has announced it will be targeting the Midlands distribution market as part of ambitious plans to upgrade its land and property portfolios.

Recognising the current demand / supply imbalance in the Midlands, the cash rich company is implementing a strategy of increasing weighting in quality distribution investments alongside looking to add to industrial land holdings and actively repatriating funds from European Investments for the UK market.

37 per cent of IM Properties current property portfolio (by floor area) is situated in the West Midlands with the company aiming to increase this to 50 per cent by 2013.

John Hammond, Investment Manager for IM Properties comments: "Our aim at IM Properties is to create a balanced portfolio of lease lengths, covenant exposure and locations. The focus right now is to acquire prime real estate and high quality properties typically purchased by Institutions.  

"This new strategy is a direct result of our on-going analysis of the property market which at present is clearly demonstrating that prime properties are outperforming lower quality stock.  With more robust valuations, shorter void periods and fewer drops in rental values, we believe these properties offer far better return in the current market and will be balancing these prime purchases with speculative land acquisitions."

Recent Midlands' acquisitions include the £10m acquisition of 170,000 sq ft of distribution space at Midpoint Park let to Kuehne and Nagel for three years.  At Hams Hall in Coleshill the company owns two distribution units purchased mid-term in 2008.  The company is close to re-letting the smaller 28,000 sq ft unit and is in discussions with the occupier of the larger 170,000sq ft unit.  In Daventry, the company recently let an 80,000sq ft distribution unit to Ceva Logistics on a ten year lease, with minimal void following the previous tenant exercising a lease break.

"The strength of our existing Midlands portfolio coupled with increased demand for land and buildings close to the motorway network has heightened our interest in the region," added John. "The rising popularity of distribution sites has been evident on schemes including our own Birch Coppice Business Park development in North Warwickshire, where Ocado is constructing a £210m Customer Fulfillment Centre totaling 350,000sq ft. We believe that these growing distribution requirements combined with a reemerging car market and high rent rebounds makes the Midlands the most promising region for investment.  

"We are an ambitious and hungry company with the funds to both invest in existing properties and deliver our own new developments to the region and are extremely excited about increasing our prominence within the Midlands market."

Established in 1987, IM Properties Plc is one of the UK's largest privately owned property companies, with close to £1bn of property owned and under management within the UK, France, Germany and USA, the company's land bank is in excess of 300 acres.

IM Properties is well known for its consistent deliverability and the quality of its developments. This deliverability is reinforced by the fact that all developments are financed from existing cash resources.