Bullring and Grand Central Birmingham shopping centre owner sees losses rise - but debt slashed

Hammerson, which owns Birmingham’s Bullring and Grand Central shopping destinations, also reported a 15% drop in underlying earnings after selling off its stake in the owner of Bicester Village.

Despite banking £595 million in cash from the deal, impairment losses of £497m sent the group to a bottom line loss of £526 million, against losses of £51 million the previous year.

Hammerson reported a drop in earnings down to £99 million for 2024, down from £116m the year before, after it offloaded retail assets including the holding in Value Retail business to a private equity firm.

However the group also hailed a "rebound in occupancy" across its shopping centres, which stood at more than 95%, while gross rents rose 1.6% on a like-for-like basis. It added that more shoppers were visiting its venues, up 600,000 to 170 million across the year.

In it's end of year results statement the firm said it had "one of the strongest balance sheets in the sector", with net debt down 40% year-on-year to £799m. 

Rental income dropped 9% to £189 million as asset sales also took their toll.

But the group cheered a “transformative” year after the Bicester Village stake sale, which has allowed it to focus on its urban retail real estate and reduce debts.

Rita-Rose Gagne, chief executive of Hammerson, said: “Following a transformative and successful year for Hammerson, we enter 2025 as a repositioned business.

“In landing the pivotal sale of Value Retail and completing our non-core disposals, we have generated £1.5 billion of cash proceeds over the last four years, materially strengthening our capital structure, and enabling investment for growth in our high-quality portfolio.”

She added there was “more to come”, with the group “poised to deliver significant revenue and underlying earnings growth, with the full impact of our ongoing investments and acquisitions yet to be realised”.