Hammerson reports £319.8m loss
Shopping centre owner Hammerson has reported a £319.8m loss during the first six months of the year ending 30 June.
Hammerson, which owns shopping centres such as London’s Brent Cross and Birmingham’s Bullring, revealed on an adjusted basis profits were down 10.5% to £107.3m.
The company also reported a 6.8% decrease in like-for-like net rental income at its flagship UK centres attributed to the impact of “CVAs and administrations”.
It said tenant restructuring, in the form of CVAs and administrations, had been the “largest single factor reducing income” It added that during the period, 10 of its retailers undertook a CVA or went into administration affecting 45 units and £8m of passing rent, resulting in a £1.1m reduction in passing rent.
Additionally low transaction volumes and a “weak UK retail market” impacted Hammerson’s portfolio valuations, Its UK flagship destinations suffered a revaluation deficit of £266m, or 9.1% and in France, there was a revaluation loss of £71m, or 3.9%.
The group’s portfolio suffered a total net revaluation deficit of £423m.
David Atkins, chief executive of Hammerson, said: “The UK retail landscape is undoubtedly challenging and traditional high street fashion is under pressure. However, our focus on shifting our line-up towards categories with greater customer appeal and rental growth potential has resulted in over 90% of new leasing to leading consumer and F&B brands.
“We’ve seen a stronger performance in Ireland and France, alongside continued exceptional results from premium outlets which demonstrates the benefits of our diversified portfolio.Our absolute priority remains to reduce debt. We stated our intention to achieve over £500m of disposals in 2019 and even in this tough environment where deals are taking longer to transact, we are now most of the way there. We will continue to pursue additional sales throughout 2019 and into 2020 to further strengthen our balance sheet.”
Hammerson said it has reached 90% of its £500m asset reductions, and revealed it It has also exchanged contracts for the sale of a 75% stake in its Parisian shopping centre Italie Deux, and the forward sale of 75% of the location’s Italik extension, in a £423m deal.
