Stobart Group has said a £25m windfall generated by a property sale this month will be held in cash pending reinvestment or used to repay debt.

The windfall results from the sale by Stobart’s estates division of an investment property at Admiral Retail Park, in Eastbourne, which the firm took on in February 2012 for £22.1m, estates division CEO Richard Butcher told Motortransport.co.uk.

Around £600,000 has been spent on improvements to the site during that period, he added.

The deal is expected to be completed by the end of September.

Whether the money is reinvested in other property or used to pay down group debt will depend on a number of factors, said Butcher.

“It’s a balancing act between repaying debt to avoid the interest costs and reinvesting for a better return to shareholders,” he said. “We tend to decide each one on its merits."

“The game plan with these properties is to asset manage them, in terms of getting new deals with tenants and looking at development opportunities, and when the time is right and we can get as much value out of it as we can, we will look to dispose,” Butcher said.

The total value of Stobart’s property assets currently stand at around £350m.

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