Britain's lucrative seabed boosts the value of the property company that supports the country's monarchy.
The Crown Estate, whose income helps determine the annual dividend paid to the royal family, reported a 41% jump in profits to a record £442.6 million ($559 million) in the 2022/23 financial year, mainly due to revenue from New lease contracts for real estate. Six offshore wind farms. In the 2021/22 financial year, £51.8m was transferred to the Kings and the amount is expected to be higher this year.
This is because the total value received rose by just 1.3% to £15.8bn, as falling property prices in London eroded gains from rising valuations at the bottom of the sea. The total value of the portfolio has doubled in the past decade, thanks in large part to the gentry's property rights over almost all of the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
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Britain's transition to a low-carbon economy has funneled more money into offshore wind production. Today, the UK already has the second largest wind energy production capacity, behind only China, and the goal is to triple its production capacity by 2050.
The royal family's capital was boosted by a major leasing round for new wind farms signed in January, when companies including BP, TotalEnergies and RWE AG began paying more than $1 billion in annual fees for the rights to develop empty parts of the sea.
The Crown Estate also owns the popular Regent Street shopping precinct, where visitor numbers have increased but remain lower than before the Covid-19 pandemic. The value of its London property portfolio fell by 6.5% to £7.2bn, but its core office space outperformed the benchmark.
© 2023 Bloomberg LP.
Emily Brontë is a journalist and feature writer specialising in culture, entertainment, literature, and current affairs. She is dedicated to producing clear, accurate reporting that helps readers stay informed about developments in the UK and around the world.
