Hammerson plans to ‘reshape entire neighbourhoods’

Hammerson’s profits have risen by 14% for the past six months, as the retail landlord tries to rein in losses. Adjusted profit for the embattled REIT rose from £17.7m for H1 2020 to £20.1m for the same period this year. Meanwhile revaluation wiped a further £361m off the company’s earnings, although that was a marked improvement on the £1bn lost in 2020. Losses per share improved by 86%. But the slow road to recovery has come at a cost, with Hammerson’s portfolio shrinking by 19% to £3.6bn, and rental income sliding 8% to £87.2m. It has raised £403m over the quarter from disposals, with much of that going to pay off debt. Hammerson said it has reduced debt by 16% to £1.9bn – which is roughly the same value as its entire retail portfolio. Rent collection for the last quarter was just 65%, although rents collected for last year have now reached 90%. Boss Rita-Rose Gagné said: “As we emerge from a unique moment in time, I see a pathway to create sustainable value as we transform the business to become more agile and able to anticipate and respond to this change.” She added that the company must now focus on what value it can add to its existing core assets. “We own flagship destinations around which we can curate and reshape entire neighbourhoods and city centre spaces for generations to come.” In order to achieve this, Gagné said that Hammerson would continue to sell non-core assets an pay off debt, “creating a leaner and more agile organisation, driving value in our destinations and accelerating our longer term developments”.   To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews