Britain's Crown Estate profits fall to £1.2 billion as offshore wind revenues dip

By Susanna Twidale

LONDON, June 25 (Reuters) - Britain's Crown Estate, which manages King Charles' public property, reported an annual net operating profit of £1.245 billion ($1.64 billion) on Thursday, down 13% on the previous year, chiefly because revenues from offshore wind leases fell.

The Crown Estate, which comprises tracts of land and most of Britain’s sea bed, is an independently run, commercial business. 

It hands most of its profits to the UK Treasury, then parliament uses a formula based on Crown Estate revenue to determine how much should be allocated to the royal family for official duties, with a two-year lag.

Most of the £875 million in profits came from option fees from the offshore wind leasing Round 4 which was held in 2021 when energy majors including Total and BP won lease options to build windfarms.

As the operators pay smaller fees once they start building the projects, revenues from the wind leases fell significantly from the previous year.

NEW OFFSHORE WIND LEASING ROUND

In March the Crown Estate said it will hold another offshore wind leasing round next year.

CEO Dan Labbad said in a briefing with journalists he anticipates option fees for successive leasing rounds, which are set at auction, will be lower than in Round 4.

“We're in a very, very different market environment,” he said.

Since 2021, development costs for the offshore wind sector have soared and U.S. President Donald Trump has sought to halt project development and criticised the technology.

Excluding the Round 4 fees, operating profits increased 5% to £370 million while the property portfolio valuation increased to £14.5 billion from £13.4 billion the year before, the results showed.

Last year the Crown Estate was granted powers to keep more of the money it generates to invest in new projects. For 2025/2026, the Treasury received £487 million, down from around £1.1 billion a year earlier.

($1 = 0.7582 pounds)

(Reporting By Susanna Twidale; editing by Barbara Lewis)