The UK-based owner of premium retail assets, Hammerson, delivered a profit for the first time in five years as footfall at its malls returned to close to pre-Covid-19-pandemic levels.
JSE-listed Hammerson owns a portfolio of assets in Europe, with a focus on flagship retail destinations and venues. It said on Thursday that it saw footfall return to 90% of its 2019 levels as it made a £50.3m (R1.02bn) profit in its interim results to end-December.
This is partly because of like-for-like net rental income rising, and lower admin and financing costs.
This is a relief for the company that was in the red over the past few years with losses rising as high as £1.09bn (R22.14bn) in its interim results in December 2020. The last time it delivered a profit in the interim period in 2017 with £388.4m (R7.89bn) before a loss of £268.1m a year later.
During this tough period, the share price fell about 99% on the JSE and Hammerson is now valued at R21.83bn on the local bourse.
Hammerson focuses on flagship retail destinations and venues. On December 31, its portfolio was valued at £5.29bn (R107.2bn).
“We have strengthened our tenant profile, we have a strong and diversified leasing pipeline for the second half, and robust occupancy levels across our destinations,” CEO Rita-Rose Gagné said.
“We have also continued to make progress on our pre-development pipeline, with key milestones in the first half met that enable further options for value creation,” she added.
The company will pay out an interim dividend of £0.02 (41c) and intends to offer shareholders an enhanced scrip dividend alternative of £0.02 (41c) pence per share, subject to shareholder approval.
The share price was up 6.97% by Thursday afternoon to R4.76.
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