Investment agents at Harris Lamb have overseen the sale and leaseback of a manufacturing and showroom unit in Stoke-on-Trent on behalf of Moorcroft Pottery.
W Moorcroft – trading as Moorcroft Pottery – instructed the business to sell The Phoenix Works building on Nile Street in Cobridge on a Sale and Leaseback arrangement whereby the business would continue to operate from the premises for a further 10 years.
The 14,747 sq ft building, which comprises of an extensive warehouse adjoined by a factory shop and office, along with a loading yard and 48 parking spaces, is located in a well-established commercial area, just over a mile from the city centre with convenient motorway access.
Andrew Groves, who oversaw the deal, said: “Sale and Leasebacks are becoming a strategic and efficient way for businesses to release capital to enable them to continue with their core operations while investing into further expansion and development.
“W Moorcroft is a well-known name with a long history in Stoke on Trent, with the first pottery to carry the name having been manufactured in 1897. Over the last 120 years, the company has established a reputation for manufacturing high quality art pottery selling to collectors across the world.
“We were instructed to identify offers for the premises for more than £575,000, upon which the business would sign a 10-year full-repairing lease, thereby representing a net initial yield of 10.77 per cent for the buyer,” he explained.
Andrew said that the region’s rich creative industries heritage meant the property represented an attractive proposition for a number of interested parties.
“Even without its reputation for being home to famous pottery manufacturers, investors have been expressing interest in industrial properties throughout the Stoke region for some time thanks to its central location and its well-documented growth in productivity.
“An opportunity of this size and specification was always going to be an attractive acquisition, but with a famous pottery brand in situ, it became even more so, and we were able to agree contracts soon after placing the property on the Investment market.”
The successful purchaser, was a private investor who paid the asking price, to secure the building.
Elise Adams, Managing Director of Moorcroft Pottery, said: The Sale and Leaseback of the Nile Street property enables the manufacturing of Moorcroft’s handmade art pottery to remain unchanged but also enables the company to take its business forward with its strategy plan for the next decade which includes further exceptional growth in its website and online presence, an ambitious retail, PR & marketing and event programme nationwide and the development of new sub-brands and ancillary products within the existing core business.