Next Plc has confirmed the successful sale and leaseback of its national head office.
The high street retailer 鈥 which has taken a big financial hit from the coronavirus 鈥 announced earlier in the spring that it wanted to sell the site in central England.
Just as many other big corporations had been doing, it hoped to free up cash tied up in property to support the business through the unprecedented economic times.
A spokesman for the business said the sale and leaseback of the offices in Enderby, Leicestershire, had now been completed.
The spokesman would not give further details but a trading statement in late April had said it had been in the advanced stages of agreeing the sale and leaseback of the office for 拢48 million.
At the time the business had also completed the sale and leaseback of some of its warehouses for a further 拢107 million.
In a statement the spokesman said: 鈥淭he sale and leaseback of the Enderby HQ has now been completed.鈥
He added: 鈥淣o details of the sale and leaseback of the HQ have been made public.
鈥淎ll I can say is that (Covid apart) there are no operational changes to the HQ set up over what went before 鈥 and staff won鈥檛 know any different.鈥
The 拢4.2 billion turnover group was forced to close all its stores when the lockdown was imposed, and revised potential lost revenues for the year from between 拢400 million and 拢1 billion in March to between 拢1.2 billion and 拢1.6 billion in April.
Even as shops reopen, it expects to see 40 per cent fewer sales over the year.
Last month Topps Tiles revealed it had agreed to the 拢18.1 million sale and leaseback of its Leicester head office and central warehouse buildings 鈥 which are two miles up the road from the Next HQ 鈥 to 海角视频 Warehouse Properties Limited.
The proceeds from the sale have been used to strengthen Topps Tiles鈥 financial position as it responds to the Covid-19 crisis.
A few days ago Ted Baker announced it had completed the sale and leaseback of its London HQ to a wholly-owned subsidiary of British Airways Pension Trustees Limited for 拢78.75 million.
The net proceeds of at least 拢72 million of that will go towards reducing the group鈥檚 debt, it said.
And in late June low-cost airline EasyJet secured $255 million through the sale and leaseback of six A320neo aircraft with leasing firm SMBC Aviation Capital.
