Regus posts strong H1 results, develops formats

The Group, which rents out private offices, open-plan and co-working office floor, meeting rooms, virtual offices and business lounges on a flexible contract basis, added a total of 231 new locations to its portfolio in the first half of the year, while seeing a 23 pct boost in ROI.

Founded in Brussels in 1989, the workspace operator provides office space to companies and individuals wherever it finds attractive for potential and existing tenants: in city centres, suburban districts, shopping centres, railway stations, motorway service stations and even community centres.

The users can easily switch between the fully equipped Regus facilities around the globe, or settle in a selected Regus location. As part of its growth strategy, the London-listed Regus plans on spending GBP 230 mln on opening a total of 600 new locations this year and launching new products.

“We continue to invest in developing our formats dedicated to airports, roadside and rail locations as well as hotels, retail and library and university locations. In addition to increasing our geographic coverage and providing a convenient network, these formats allow us to increase the range of service and price points the Group is able to offer, from premium to budget,” reads the company’s statement.

As of the end of June 2015, Regus run 2,481 workplace locations across 896 towns and cities in 106 countries, including all the CEE markets. In Poland, the company operates in Gdańsk, Warsaw, Lublin, Kraków, Poznań and Wrocław.

According to a recent report by DTZ, flexible offices currently account for up to 8 pct of the global office take-up. They also increasingly become popular components of various kinds of real estate projects, including the urban regeneration developments. “As businesses adjust to the realities of increasing rents and the rapid pace of a globalised, technology-enabled market, the biggest challenge they face is not cost or mobility, but people. This trend is not simply about creating open plan layouts or adding a café. It is about giving people control and flexibility in their environment,” said Steve Quick, DTZ’s chief executive of global occupier.