Long-term manager and developer of logistics warehouses, P3 Logistic Parks, continues to record strong growth over the past 12 months. This has been driven, in part, by the boom in online demand, which has fueled the need for strategically-located warehouses in Europe. P3’s customer base has grown by 20 percent, with customer retail share surpassing 30 percent for the first time in the company’s history.
P3’s fundamentals remain strong. Throughout 2018, the company’s portfolio grew by almost half a million sqm, offset by the strategic disposal of 250,000 sqm of non-core assets. This includes construction starts and a development pipeline exceeding 1.2 million sqm of committed BTS and speculative development projects. Occupancy in the portfolio remains above 95 percent.
“The logistics industry is experiencing a perfect storm of investment appetite, customer demand and technological innovation,” said Ian Worboys, Chief Executive Officer of P3 Logistic Parks. “No longer consigned to the shadows, the logistics industry is now one of the most attractive and stable investment classes around. We continue to remain customer-focused, and our growing base of retail customers appreciates P3’s flexible, long-term approach. And they keep coming back! That’s probably why we’re signing a new lease deal every 1.3 days, have a committed development pipeline exceeding 660,000 sqm, and are committed to building some of the largest spec projects in Europe.”
Similar trends are noticeable in Poland. Dynamic development of e-commerce and increased demand for warehouses for customers selling their products on-line, including retail chains, also have been reflected in P3 projects. In the last twelve months, developer has delivered over 115,000 sqm of modern warehouse space.
Bartłomiej Hofman, Managing Director P3 Logistic Parks w Polsce, says: “Last year was very busy for us. In most of our parks, we built and put into use new facilities. Since many years we have seen a great interest in park P3 Piotrków located in Central Poland, in which in 2018 we put into operation almost 55,000 sqm of modern warehouse space and we started construction of another 59,000 sqm. Equally popular is our another flagship investment – park P3 Poznan. Last year, when we handed over the warehouse from which e-commerce client will be serviced, we completed construction of the first phase of the park. At the same time, we prepared to construction start of the second phase, securing the land and obtaining a building permit. Our land bank allows us to build next warehouses in our parks. At the same time, we are looking for land that will allow us to continue long term development and construction of large logistics parks with an interregional potential, especially in such locations as the vicinity of Warsaw, Łódź and Upper Silesia.”
Deal & construction highlights from 2018 include:
Commencement on P3’s first G+3 warehouse in Europe; a 190,000 sqm development for a leading eCommerce customer in Italy.
A high-tech and semi-automated 30,000 sqm BTS development for Lamborghini Ducati in P3 Sala Bolognese, Italy.
The commencement of construction on a 30,000 sqm BTS development for Airbus in P3 Illescas, south of Madrid, Spain.
The development of a 130,000 sqm brownfield project, P3 Kamen, in Germany, with a 37,000 pre-let to Arvato.
The installation of Virtuplex, by Etnetera, the largest B2B Virtual Reality experience in Europe, in P3 Prague Horni Pocernice, Czech Republic
The commencement of the largest speculative development in Czech Republic, 60,000 saqm at P3 Lovosice.
Development of new flagship park in Slovakia, P3 Bratislava Airport, with a 46,000 sqm warehouse under development for retailer, Action.
Completion of a 30,000 sqm BTS project in P3 Lomme, France for Ingram Micro
The extension of P3 Piotrków park: in 2018 a total of 54,900 sqm was completed and further constructions of a total area of 59,000 sqm were commenced
The acquisition of a 16-hectare site in northwest Bucharest, Romania, for an 80,000 sqm logistic park.
Since its acquisition by Singapore’s Sovereign Wealth Fund (GIC), in December 2016, for €2.4 billion, P3 has increased its portfolio to more than 4.1 million sqm of lettable area, with a land bank of more than 1.3 million sqm. Internally, P3 has grown to more than 140 real estate experts in nine countries across Europe. In 2018, P3 appointed a new Managing Director for its German operation, Sönke Kewtiz, a new Managing Director of its Polish operation, Bartlomiej Hofman, and a new Managing Director of its French operation, Christophe Chauvard.
P3 continues to follow its customer-centric strategy by producing another edition of its leading real estate trends and technology conference, P3 Momentum, in Prague this October, for more than 200+ business leaders and customers. Speakers at last year’s conference included VP and Head of Retail at DHL Supply Chain, Alex Hislop, Director of Merck Healthcare, Christophe Revirron, CEO of autonomous vehicle company Bedestrian, Shadi T. Mere and renowned futurist Sean Culey as keynote speaker.
On P3 Momentum, Worboys continues: “As we progress through the so-called ‘Information Age’, a few universal truths are emerging. Namely, that customer-centricity is at the heart of the new business norm. Personalisation, automation and servitisation of the warehousing and logistics industries are driving rapid change in how businesses are run and the space needed to store, fulfil, ship and process goods. It’s an exciting time, full of both creative and disruptive forces, and therefore P3 considers it our duty to understand, report and act on the trends impacting consumers and, more immediately, our customers.”
P3 is continuing its work as the first logistics warehouse developer in the world to join the UN Global Compact, an initiative based on CEO commitments to adopt sustainable and socially-responsible policies, by implementing green technologies in parks and cooperating with communities and professional/academic organisations in creating better warehouse spaces.
