Middlesbrough’s mayor Andy Preston tells ITV News Business and Economics Editor Joel Hills that House of Fraser needs to start paying rent soon or leave the town
The House of Fraser in Middlesbrough is a striking Art Deco-style building. Built in Portland Stone across six floors in 1957, it sits in the heart of the town centre.
The department store had been set to close but last summer, Middlesbrough Council stumped up £1 million to buy the building as part of plans to revive the centre’s fortunes.
Until now, the council has allowed Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group to continue to use the 100,000 square feet of retail space rent-free but Middlesbrough’s mayor insists that unless House of Fraser starts paying rent “soon” then the company will be turfed out.
Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.
It has been a horrific turn of events for Delta Property Fund and Rebosis Property Fund, two of the biggest black-run companies on the JSE’s real estate sector, which is worth more than R200-billion.
Shareholders have watched the value of their Delta and Rebosis investments implode recently as both companies lurch from one extreme crisis to another – ranging from shocking governance problems to overall bad management decisions.
Delta shares, the trading of which has been suspended by the JSE (more on this later), tumbled by 51% in 2020, wiping R257-million off from its market value. Rebosis has also felt the sting of unforgiving shareholders as its B shares fell by 31%, shaving R69.9-million off its market value. Unfortunately, the value destruction for shareholders hasn’t ended there but has continued into the early days of 2021.