FTSE 100 firm Segro has been expanding in London
(Picture: Rob Stothard/Getty Images)Warehouse property giant Segro has continued its bumper 2020 London shopping spree, with a site purchase in Kentish Town.
Sources said the FTSE 100 company has bought a former Addison Lee garage site and is expected to use it, subject to planning permission, as warehouse space.
Segro, which counts Amazon and Ocado as customers, has seen increased demand from retailers looking for more logistics space to cope with a wave of new online shoppers won during the pandemic.
In June the landlord, led by David Sleath, raised £680 million via a share placing to help fund new purchases. Recent buys include sites in Canning Town and Perivale Park in west London.
Segro declined to comment on the Kentish Town acquisition. It is understood to have paid around £8.5 million to Brockton Capital, and property agent Michael Elliott advised the vendor.
As at October Segro was constructing, or set to start building soon, more than 1 million sq m of new space.
Meanwhile, new research today from BNP Paribas Real Estate showed that meal-kit providers which deliver recipes and ingredients to consumers’ homes, signed for close to 735,000 square feet in the first nine months of the year, up significantly on 2019.
HelloFresh and Gousto are among firms that have taken space this year.
Ben Wiley, head of industrial and logistics agency at BNP Paribas Real Estate, said: “The pandemic has acted as an accelerator and boosted demand for meal kit services, triggered by consumers spending more time at home rather than going out due to the restrictions. Already pre-Covid this concept was gaining momentum due to a trend of increased interest in nutritious meals and consumers’ lack of time."
