News in brief: Thursday, July 25

Leadsom replaces Clark as business secretary

Andrea Leadsom has been named secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS), replacing Greg Clark, in new prime minister Boris Johnson’s first cabinet. 

Leadsom, the MP for South Northamptonshire, was named as BEIS secretary as part of a bruising reshuffle overnight, following yesterday’s confirmation of Johnson as the PM. 

A former energy minister, Leadsom also served as environment secretary in the first year of Theresa May’s government. As BEIS minister, she has ultimate responsibility for the retail sector, which sits within the wider brief under Kelly Tolhurst. 

Clark leaves after three years in the role. 

NewRiver reports ‘good start to year’ 

NewRiver reported a “good start to the year, despite retail headwinds” in its trading update for the first quarter. 

The landlord said retail occupancy across its schemes was at 95.4% for Q1 and that average rents remained “affordable” at £12.58 per sq ft. 

Operationally it disposed of £27.5m of assets – including an Asda food store in Wales and a shopping centre – and deployed the proceeds into its £60.5m retail park joint venture with Bravo. 

NewRiver said its portfolio was resilient to CVAs and administrations during the quarter with just 0.5% of its gross income affected in the first quarter. 

Chief executive Allan Lockhart said: “We have made a good start to the year despite continued retail sector headwinds, delivering robust operational metrics, with occupancy and average rents remaining stable, footfall outperforming the benchmark and long-term leasing deals ahead of previous passing rent and estimated rental values.”