David Smith, UK portfolio director for Dutch property and investment giant Redevco, yesterday said the company had no regrets about buying upmarket Glasgow shopping mall Princes Square.

David Smith, UK portfolio director for Dutch property and investment giant Redevco, yesterday said the company had no regrets about buying upmarket Glasgow shopping mall Princes Square in the months before the Scottish retail sector took a nosedive.

Redevco, one of Europe's largest property com- panies which also owns retail space in Argyle and George streets in Glasgow and on Edinburgh's Princes Street, paid £107m last November in a deal which included the Guildhall office development in Glasgow's Queen Street.

In spite of the global banking crisis and the credit crunch that began to emerge in September 2007 with the run on Northern Rock, Scottish consumer spending did not show signs of buckling until July this year.

Smith, who is originally from Aberdeen but operates Redevco's UK retail portfolio from London, yesterday told The Herald in a telephone interview: "I suppose we did buy Princes Square at just about the peak of the market, but we also got it well below the asking price."

Indeed, Redevco paid £15m less than the £122m selling price on the two properties that were put on the market in February 2007.

Smith added: "We were well aware of the way the retail sector was going - but Princes Square is such a good asset, if we didn't buy it when we did, someone else would have bought it. But we're not particularly concerned about the downturn. We're in Princes Square for the long term, 10 years-plus. As a company, our gearing is also at low-level and we haven't maxed out or anything.

Smith, who also revealed that Redevco, which has about a third of its UK portfolio in Scotland, was planning a £6m refurbishment at Princes Square next year, said: "It's worth bearing in mind we've just been through a peak.

"Generally, the market did get out of hand. There were people who just bought something one year, did absolutely nothing and sold it the next year for a substantial profit.

"Those days are clearly now passed. A correction was needed - but sometimes there can be an over-correction, which might throw up some buying opportunities. We'll have to wait and see."

Asked about the impact of the downturn on his tenants, Smith said: "We don't get reports from every single retailer, but the general picture we're getting from Princes Square is that footfall is down, but sales are generally up. Although Princes Square is also getting a boost from Vivienne Westwood with her first Scottish store and Kurt Geiger, which opened there this week."

Smith said rents at Princes Square were "not going up, but they're stable", although he added that "you can't get away from the fact that the economy is in recession and that consumer spending has slowed".

His observations chimed with the latest findings from the Scottish Retail Consortium, which yesterday noted that consumers north of the border were cutting spending on everything but essentials.

Like-for-like sales in October were 0.1% higher than last year, with the small growth attributed to higher food prices.

Financial turmoil, weak consumer confidence and the squeeze on household budgets were to blame for the hit on spending, the SRC said.

Total sales were 4.5% up on October 2007, however the figures represented the largest decline in non-food sales since June 2000.

John Lewis, the employee-owned group often regarded as a barometer of UK middle-class spending, said yesterday sales at its department stores plunged 14% year on year last week, marking its ninth weekly decline in a row.

The SRC report also noted that female shoppers were opting for accessories such as jewellery and handbags, rather then buying whole new outfits. Nonetheless, Smith said that Princes Square will tomorrow also unveil Re-position, a so-called "pop-up" boutique to showcase seven young Scottish designers, Graeme Armour, Bebaroque, Brazen, Jamie Bruski Tetsill, Scott Ramsay Kyle, Alice Palmer, Vidler & Nixon, as well as recently named Designer of the Year Deryck Walker.

"The idea is to showcase the next generation Scottish fashion designers, and of course we get something out of it, too - greater footfall."

Meanwhile, Smith added that Glasgow-based boutique and restaurant owner Fifi and Ally, which earlier this year was being pursued through the courts for un- paid rent bills of almost £20,000, was now "fully up to date".