Bullring owner Hammerson sees fall in value of managed portfolio but profits rise despite pandemic impact

Hammerson have released mixed half-year results as the property giant saw its profits rise amidst a fall in its managed property value.

The London-based firm saw an eight per cent fall in its net rental income year-on-year brought on by the pandemic and a significant impact on trading for much of the year up to April.

In April, Hammerson, which owns the Bullring in Birmingham, cut rents for its retail tenants by 30 per cent to spark a recovery from a year in lockdowns.

There was also a significant fall in its managed portfolio value. It dropped 19 per cent from £4.4bn in 2020 to around £3.6bn this year.

The impacts of the pandemic are clear to see through the results, as equity shareholders funds saw a dramatic fall of 13 per cent.

Some encouragement can be gained from the basic loss per share recovering to 9.2p from its position of 64.9 last year, a recovery of 86 per cent.

Despite this, Hammerson saw a rise in adjusted profit: rising from £17.7m in 2020 to £20.1m this year in a sign that London’s property market might return to something nearing its pre-pandemic status.

Rita Rose-Gagne, Chief Executive of Hammerson, said: “We have continued to respond to the changing landscape during the first half of 2021, which again was impacted by Covid-19.

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.

We own flagship destinations around which we can curate and reshape entire neighbourhoods and city centre spaces for generations to come.”

The property and investment firm had agreed abatements with various retailers earlier in the year and that is likely to be reflected in its results.

“We are focused on continuing to de-lever the balance sheet through disposals of non-core assets, creating a leaner and more agile organisation,” Rose-Gagne said.