TheChek News Flow

UK landlord expects property investment to pick up following challenging period marked by soaring borrowing costs

Next year will bring buying opportunities in commercial real estate as the prices for good-quality property stabilise, one of the UK’s largest landlords has said.

Land Securities on Tuesday said the value of its £10bn portfolio, which includes shopping centres, urban developments and London offices, declined 3.6 per cent in the six months to September due to rising interest rates.

But with rates settling at higher levels, it believes property investment should pick up in 2024, after a challenging period when higher borrowing costs and fears about office demand have stalled dealmaking and slashed property values.

Landsec’s chief executive Mark Allan said that after selling £1.4bn of property at higher prices last year, the FTSE 100 group was well-placed to snap up “opportunities that will no doubt arise as the new higher-for-longer reality is now more widely accepted”.

Those sales last year were mainly large office buildings in the City of London, where the value of Landsec’s remaining buildings fell just over 9 per cent. Allan said “large corporate headquarters type space” was most at risk from declining office demand as companies shift to working from home.

Landsec said there was a clear split in the wider London office market. More than 80 per cent of London buildings are full, and 40 per cent of the vacant office space is found in just 1 per cent of the buildings, the company said. Most of the available space is in the City or Docklands area that includes Canary Wharf.

Among the roughly 25,000 people who work in Landsec offices in London, which are concentrated in Victoria, Southwark and the City, the landlord said 22 per cent more workers were coming into the office than last year.

The owner of the famous Piccadilly Lights said the proceeds from asset sales would help it to jump on buying opportunities next year as the market finds its feet. On top of its shopping list are “prime” shopping centres. Landsec said that after six years of falling retail rents, as the sector battled ecommerce, the rents it agreed with existing tenants rose 2 per cent. “In retail, we have turned that corner,” Allan said.

Even if the prices for in-demand properties stabilise in 2024, Allan expects “secondary assets where the sustainability of cash flow is questionable” will continue to drop.

However, he said there was a low risk of a wave of “disorderly sales” disrupting the market because there seemed to be enough “new equity and mezzanine finance to plug gaps in the capital stack”.

In September, arrivals from China to London's West End were just 2 percent shy of 2019 figures, but spending was down by 58 percent.

LONDON — China‘s slow recovery this year has put immense pressure on luxury players — and on the cities where they sell their goods.

London, in particular, has been feeling the heat as duty-free shopping for international travelers was removed in 2021 as the U.K. left the European Union.

According to data released Monday by the New West End Company, there is a growing gap between the number of international tourists visiting the British capital and their propensity to spend, a major cause for concern for businesses grappling with high inflation and the cost-of-living crisis.

In September, the first month after the Chinese government’s restrictions on group travel were lifted, arrivals from China were just 2 percent shy of 2019 figures but the spending was down by 58 percent.

The average gap between international visitor travel and travelers’ willingness to spend compared to 2019 levels was down 31 percent in the third quarter of 2023, according to New West End Company, which represents some 600 retail, restaurant, hotel and property owners around Bond, Oxford and Regent Streets.

Dee Corsi, chief executive officer of the New West End Company, reiterated that “the absence of tax-free shopping is hindering growth and impacting consumer spending. While tourists cut back in the U.K., Continental Europe reaps the benefits, with spending in France and Spain more than doubling in recent months.”

Corsi is among many business leaders who are actively campaigning for the return of tax-free shopping. A parliamentary debate around the topic was held at the beginning of September.

“We continue to call upon the Treasury to conduct an independent review of the policy’s effects. A reversal of the ‘tourist tax’ is a simple measure that would have a significant impact and help to restore London’s competitive edge,” Corsi added.

At home, the road to recovery has been equally challenging. Chinese e-commerce players have embraced a quieter Singles’ Day holiday by offering steeper discounts.

According to third-party data agency Syntun, sales on Friday and Saturday came in at 277.6 billion renminbi, or $38.5 billion, registering a year-on-year decline of 9.8 percent. The event generated 1.021 billion parcels, a decrease of around 16.7 percent compared to last year.

Overall spending recovery in October remained soft. A recent HSBC report noted that Chinese spending on luxury was around 81 percent of what it was in October 2019.

While spending in the Asia Pacific region reached 109 percent of October 2019 levels, luxury spending in Continental Europe by Chinese tourists hit 52 percent of the pre-pandemic levels.

On Friday, Richemont chairman Johann Rupert noted that many middle-class Chinese families are opting to stay at home and save their money.

Rupert said that many middle-class Chinese remain “scarred” by the experience of lockdown. He noted that many of these are only children and young couples are choosing to save their money and spend wisely in a bid to preserve the wealth of their families and extended families.

“We look at data, we speak to people who are on the ground. Unlike in the West, those [middle class] clients — and potential clients — are not overstretched,” Rupert said.

As a result, luxury players have been shifting their attention from China’s middle class to the ultra-rich.

According to Morgan Stanley’s estimate, around 1 percent of customers will account for as much as 40 percent of sales in some key luxury malls in China. To scale up clienteling services, mega brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Chanel have quietly opened VIP salons in key China markets.

Brands have also been putting on exclusive trunk shows in far-flung locations and hosting exclusive dinners where clients can rub shoulders with celebrities.

Last month, Cartier hosted a gala dinner at the Juyongguan Great Wall to celebrate its Le Voyage Recommencé exhibition at Beijing’s Prince Jun’s Mansion.

Following a high jewelry showcase on the red-carpeted Great Wall, guests enjoyed a performance by musician Chang Shilei and famed Hong Kong singer Karen Mok during a gala dinner.

Major government-led events such as the China International Import Expo in Shanghai have also become a window for luxury houses to demonstrate their commitment to the Chinese market amid the country’s slower-than-expected economic recovery, dented by deflation woes, slow retail sales growth, a rising youth unemployment rate, and fragile consumer sentiment.

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton sent a fleet of senior executives to the fair to meet with Wang Wentao, China’s commerce minister, and hosted a series of talks focused on topics including strengthening ties with China and retaining local talent.

“We want to use this platform to display the creativity and craftsmanship of our products to the broader Chinese markets. It’s also important for us to think about what will be the next phase of development with our Chinese partners here,” said Ludovic Watine-Arnault, general manager for Northern Europe and e-commerce director of EMEA at Christian Dior Couture, who served as Bernard Arnault’s CIIE representative.

The French designer has already logged a decade as Vuitton's artistic director of women's collections.

In a sign of continuity at the world’s biggest luxury brand — and recognition of his significant contribution to its impressive growth trajectory — Louis Vuitton has renewed the contract of Nicolas Ghesquière for another five years, WWD has learned.

The development comes as the designer marks his 10th anniversary as the brand’s artistic director of women’s collections.

“I’m very happy, and also very honored for this trust,” Ghesquière said, confirming the contract extension in an exclusive interview. “Of course, it’s very fulfilling to see the achievement of 10 years being transformed into a new chapter.”

It marks the second big decision for Vuitton’s new chairman and chief executive officer Pietro Beccari, who shortly after assuming the management helm last February named U.S. musician and entrepreneur Pharrell Williams as creative director of Vuitton’s menswear division.

“I think Nicolas is one of the best talents in terms of creative direction,” Beccari enthused in an interview. “He is very directional, able to anticipate the future, to understand trends and to create trends, which I think a market leader should have. And on the other side, he has a deep knowledge of the brand — of its icons, of its history.”

Beccari also touted Ghesquière’s proven track record of creating hit leather goods, from the Petite Malle he introduced with his debut show for fall 2014 in the Louvre’s Cour Carrée to the recently relaunched GO-14, a shoulder jewel he first designed back in 2014 and remastered for the fall 2023 runway last March.

The GO-14 is prominently featured on the shoulders of “Squid Game” star HoYeon Jung and actress Deepika Padukone in Vuitton’s latest ad campaign. A tribute to the maison’s master trunk-makers, the quilted bag reprises the cross-hatched “malletage” technique found inside the lids of archival trunks.

While French luxury giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton does not provide revenue breakdowns for its galaxy of more than 70 brands, it is understood that revenues at Vuitton have tripled since Ghesquière joined in 2013 after a 15-year career catapulting Balenciaga to the forefront of the Paris fashion agenda.

According to market sources, under Ghesquière’s creative leadership and the management of Beccari’s predecessor Michael Burke and Burke’s second-in-command Delphine Arnault, annual sales of women’s ready-to-wear multiplied by more than five.

The same sources estimated that annual sales of shoes and leather goods from Ghesquière’s runway collections have grown fourfold, with half of the top-10 sellers in footwear hailing from the wardrobe the designer has been building.

Known for his exacting, couture-like approach, and an experimental zeal rare among designers at Europe’s largest luxury brands, Ghesquière has unleashed a host of accessories that have become permanent products.

Among the bags are the Twist, Petite Boîte Chapeau, Palm Springs, Cannes, Dauphine, Coussin, Loop, Side Trunk, Camera Box and Atlantis models, while recurrent footwear styles include Archlight sneakers, Beaubourg ankle boots, Star Trail ankle boots and puffy Pillow boots.

In the interview, which took place in a hushed suite at the Ritz hotel, Ghesquière noted that he conceives handbags and shoes as integral elements of his fashion silhouette, recognizable by such items as patchwork leather jackets, varsity jackets and unique trouser styles. “It’s not separate elements that are styled together,” he stressed. “In terms of designing, we think about it all together; we make everything with the same intention and the same passion.”

Beccari described Ghesquière as a true designer and couturier who sketches everything by hand. “There are not many that are able to do that,” he said. “Also, he’s French and embedded in the French culture, like Louis Vuitton is.”

Indeed, Ghesquière has long been the go-to designer for style icon Brigitte Macron, the first lady of France, and he also created the costumes for a new production of 1970s French rock opera “Starmania” — arguably the most famous and successful French musical of all time. Its second Paris engagement kicks off Tuesday at La Seine Musicale and runs through Jan. 28.

Meanwhile, Beccari described Williams as a quick study in fashion with a “great sense of trend, and a great sense of aesthetics… but not a couturier.”

“So I think the mix of the two [talents] is an explosive one,” he said. “I am very proud of having this incredible couple of creative directors, and I’m happy to do another five years with Nicolas and show the world what we can do together.”

To be sure, Beccari wasted little time expanding Ghesquière’s remit and adding a pre-fall destination runway show, the first unfurling at a monumental event staged on the Jamsugyo bridge in Seoul last April.

“That’s one of the genius things about Pietro — to think outside the box,” Ghesquière said, recounting that when Beccari discovered his pre-collection in the studio, he decided on the spot that it deserved a huge spotlight.

“For me, it was a very exciting experience,” the designer related. “It made me feel good because those pre-collections are not less than other collections. They just didn’t make it to the catwalk.”

Beccari lauded Ghesquière’s ability to “put things on the catwalk that may not be immediately understood because they are too soon, but then they become a trend.”

As an example, he mentioned how Vuitton’s cruise 2017 show in Rio de Janeiro anticipated the convergence of sport and athletic elements in women’s fashion.

Beccari also touted Ghesquière’s sense of detail, which he compared to that possessed by the late, great Karl Lagerfeld, with whom he worked when he was CEO of Fendi in Rome from 2012 to 2018.

“Nicolas is very detail oriented and almost a maniac of perfection,” he said, also mentioning his “deep knowledge of materials and textiles.”

Asked if he put any creative or business imperatives before Ghesquière as the designer enters his second decade designing for Vuitton, Beccari said, “What I’ve learned is that creative people should be put in conditions that allow them to give their very best. If there’s one thing I think I do well is to create such conditions, ensuring good vibes and good energy to let free their creativity.

“That’s our role, to make them feel at ease, to feel supported, trusted and able to express their creativity,” he continued, describing commercial success as a shared responsibility. “For me, the creative director is a partner in a very important adventure because we are carrying the weight of the biggest maison of the group.

“We are very ambitious for Louis Vuitton women’s. We are both full of great hope, and great ambition,” Beccari added.

The executive, who previously put Dior on a stupendous growth trajectory, described himself as a “very present CEO” who meets with each of Vuitton’s creative directors at least three times a month.

Ghesquière described their rapport as “very direct, and very easy as he is one floor above me. He can show up in my office, I can show up in his — it’s as simple as that. So the communication is really constructive and creative… His demands are really inspiring, and interesting.”

“I am a team player and an orchestra director, and I like people to contribute and to be happy for the success of the business,” Beccari said. “I’m happy to have secured the greatest talents for Louis Vuitton and I’m quite optimistic about our success for the future.”

Over an hour-long conversation, Ghesquière reflected on his first decade at the brand, and stressed the value of a long tenure in an industry prone to musical chairs. (A recent WWD analysis of designer appointments showed that half the creative directors at roughly 40 houses have been in their positions for five years or less.)

“I think it takes time to build codes, to build an aesthetic — to solidify a style beyond fashion,” Ghesquière told WWD. “That’s certainly what makes the difference at Vuitton, those values, that vision from the group management to make sure we are hitting the season with great fashion shows and a great presentation, but more than everything building longevity — in the trust of the clients, in the trust of everyone… It’s great that we are sharing this commitment of working together long-term.”

In his view, Vuitton remains “full of possibilities” as its fashion history is relatively short, allowing him to “participate in writing a new aesthetic.”

Ghesquière is only the second designer to lead Vuitton’s womenswear after Marc Jacobs, the American designer conscripted in 1997 to bring the company into the modern fashion age and introduce ready-to-wear, shoes, fashion jewelry and eyewear to a brand that had been known primarily for luggage and handbags.

“The world of Vuitton is very rich,” Ghesquière said of the house, established in 1854 and famous for its monogram canvas and legacy of creating products for travel as it evolved from steamships to cars and jets.

The designer said he often mines the archives of Vuitton, and fashion history, too, as he imagines new directions for fashion.

“To build great fashion for the future, you have to look at the past very carefully,” he said, stressing the need to understand how social transformations were reflected in how people lived and dressed.

Asked about his proudest achievements at Vuitton so far, Ghesquière mentioned initiating destination cruise shows, the first in 2014 at Palace du Palais, Monaco.

“The brand has so much credibility in traveling with collections,” said Ghesquière, who has orchestrated each cruise show around an architectural marvel — buildings by John Lautner, Oscar Niemeyer, I.M. Pei, Joseph Lluis Sert, and Eero Saarinen, to name a few — or a stunning garden.

Bob Hope’s residence, designed by John Lautner, was the venue for Louis Vuitton’s cruise 2016 show.

Ghesquière also said he’s proud that the silhouette he’s developed at Vuitton is now very recognizable.

“It’s an interesting achievement that we will improve, develop and make even stronger for the next year,” he said. “There is a strong intention to develop what we did for the last decade — to consolidate and develop the new elements and the new codes that we created.”

The designer paid tribute to the “strong team” around him, most of its members having also logged a decade or more at the house. “That shows a lot that I’m not the only one to be committed in that mission, that we really share that that passion for the house and for creating new elements for the house.”

Hailing from the small French town of Loudun and without any formal fashion training, Ghesquière got his start in fashion by filing, photocopying and cataloguing fabrics at Jean Paul Gaultier, ultimately landing at Balenciaga and designing lowly licensed lines, including office uniforms, bridal gowns and widows’ dresses for Japan.

Once promoted to the helm of Balenciaga’s main rtw line in 1997, he quickly won acclaim for sculpted designs straddling futuristic and Parisian chic. For three seasons he also designed collections for the Milan-based house of Callaghan.

In the interview, Ghesquière said he recognized very early in his career that fashion stood at the crossroads of many creative realms, including fine art, film, music and theater. Hence his freewheeling artistic collaborations during his first decade at Vuitton, including ones with artist Phillipe Parreno, fashion editor Grace Coddington, costume designer Milena Canonero, filmmaker Hwang Dong-hyuk and musicians Woodkid and Sophie.

The designer stressed that the job of creative director has changed dramatically since he first started, now requiring him to not only create new fashions but also an atmosphere, moment and narrative that can carry through into store windows and environments, client experiences, communication campaigns and the culture at large.

A good example of the latter would be his fall 2020 show for Vuitton, titled “If the Past Could Look at Us” and staged against a tableau of 200 characters dressed in costumes spanning five centuries. It foreshadowed a Vuitton-sponsored exhibition at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, “About Time: Fashion and Duration,” that elaborated on the theme of temporality.

“It’s very impressive because you become — with great help — a bit of a director, a bit of a producer of entertainment, a bit of a writer, a bit of a musical expert,” Ghesquière mused. “It’s great, because I’ve learned so much beyond designing clothes, bags and shoes and other things about how to deliver a message through this special moment.

“What is exciting and rewarding for me is that constant quest to make a relevant proposition,” he added. “You have to take risks.”

In case you were wondering, the gong that sounds outside of each of Ghesquière’s Vuitton shows is meant to signal the start of the “experience,” functioning as a countdown to a unique live performance. “I love this idea that the fashion show is something very unique in a very precise moment,” he said.

By now, Ghesquière is known for his inventive mixture of historical designs and futuristic, science-fiction elements that he likes to call “time clash.” A famous example was when he paired 18th-century embroidered redingotes with athletic shorts and sneakers for Vuitton’s spring 2018 collection.

The designer has also assembled an eclectic cast of Vuitton ambassadors, which reflect his pluralistic approach to womenswear and his belief in continuity and loyalty, considering the likes of Jennifer Connolly and Emma Stone have been associated with him for ages.

It’s his conviction that celebrities choose Vuitton as much as the brand chooses them. “I also love all the dialogue we have together about their projects, or projects together like when Alicia Vikander asked me to design the clothes for ‘Irma Vep,’ for example,” he said. “LV is also a big house. So it’s beautiful to have a multiple representation of people.

“A sense of individuality is very important for our ambassadors. They’re not all the same, and they don’t look all the same, and we don’t dress them all the same,” he added. “I think it’s more sophisticated for LV to make individuality shine, while keeping a very strong style. It’s easier said than done.”

When the designer joined the house back in 2013, LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault made clear that one of his missions was to create new bags and fashion elements that could become “part of the modern patrimony of LV.”

Ghesquière recalled showing Arnault his sketch for the Petite Malle, a miniature version of Vuitton’s iconic trunk with similar hardware and savoir-faire, and explaining the concept behind it.

Immediately Arnault envisioned a wall with multiple shelves devoted to displaying the little trunks in different colors, telling Ghesquière, “We’ll make it something very iconic for the future of Louis Vuitton.”

“That says a lot, because for everything — creating campaigns, creating products, creating shows — he’s always there to listen, to share and, of course, give his opinion. And that is something that I appreciate, his respect for the designer,” Ghesquière marveled. “His love for art, and his love for creation, it’s truly incredible. He has a vision that is very intuitive, and very forward-thinking, sometimes beyond your own vision, which is very stimulating.”

Asked if he finds intimidating the scale of Vuitton and its importance to the group’s fortunes, the designer acknowledged that the pressure of expectation is strong.

Yet after returning from a swing through China, and witnessing the passion and dedication of store teams, he feels heartened. “It is intimidating, but I don’t feel alone in that situation. I feel responsible, but there are hundreds of talents around me.

“But you know, I would say that it’s also good to be intimidated,” he mused. “It’s great to have your heart pounding before your show is starting, feeling the excitement and the adrenaline that goes with this responsibility. I love it.”

London-listed mining and trading giant strikes agreement with two Asian steelmakers

A consortium led by Glencore has struck a $9bn deal to buy the coal business of Teck Resources, as the London-listed mining and trading giant doubles down on the fossil fuel.

Glencore will pay $6.9bn in cash for a 77 per cent stake in the business, the company said on Tuesday. Japan’s Nippon Steel and South Korea’s Posco will own the rest.

The acquisition comes just over six months after Glencore offered to buy the whole of Toronto-listed Teck, an approach that was rebuffed by the board of the Canadian company built by 85-year-old mining magnate Norman Keevil.

The decision to acquire Teck’s coal business may herald the break-up of Glencore. During its pursuit of Teck this year, Glencore had set out plans to eventually spin off the Canadian steelmaker’s coal business and its own unit into a separate company.

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