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Hammerson cuts losses as disposals strengthen balance sheet

Hammerson’s ongoing repositioning efforts have seen losses dramatically fall in full year results to the end of December 2021.

The retail group said IFRS loss for the year was £429m against £1,735m the previous year. The loss was largely due to a £470m portfolio valuation fall.

The group’s portfolio is now worth £5.4bn, down 7.9%. The valuation fall did start to stabilise in the second half of the year, with capital values down 1.7% in the final six months of the year.

EPRA net tangible assets (NTA) fell 22% over the year to 64p per share, again stabilising in the second half of the year.

The company has been busy “realigning” its portfolio, and since the beginning of 2021 has sold £623m worth of property, using the proceeds to strengthen its balance sheet.

Net debt was down 19% to £1.8bn at the end of the year, giving the group a headline loan to value (LTV) of 39%. Including disposals made in 2022, pro-forma net debt now stands at £1.6bn and pro-forma headline LTV is 37%.

Rita-Rose Gagné, chief executive of Hammerson, said: “Since the beginning of 2021, we have made fundamental changes in our business, realigning our portfolio with £623m of disposals, significantly strengthening the balance sheet, re-setting our organisation and putting in place a clear strategy for value creation focused on our prime urban estates.

“The pandemic has accelerated trends in our operating environment, with people engaging with physical space in new ways. Our role is to create and curate relevant, appealing and sustainable spaces for the future.

“We are already seeing the tangible results from our strategy with strong occupier leasing demand, reduced vacancies, improved collections, a lower cost base and clear path to value creation from our land bank.

“We have more to do. Today we are a forward-looking organisation with our assets at the heart of driving value creation.”

HMSO : Hammerson cuts losses as disposals strengthen balance sheet

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