Many of the new generation of Brobdingnagian warehouses next to the motorways of Britain are owned by Tritax Big Box. This FTSE 250 company is the only real estate investment trust specialising purely in owning and renting out these unbelievably vast structures, known, aptly, as big boxes.
Yesterday it announced plans for another one, at Fradley, in Staffordshire, with a blue-chip tenant, Screwfix, part of Kingfisher, signed up to it before the first girder is hoisted. Net of acquisition costs, the warehouse will yield 5.5 per cent.
Big boxes are catnip to retailers. They love the size, which enables them to centralise and simplify complex, distribution networks. They love their enormous heights — they can install a mezzanine with no change to the rent.