LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Property developer Hammerson said on Wednesday that losses had widened significantly in FY24 as a result of a major impairment of its "value retail" portfolio.
Hammerson said IFRS losses ballooned from £51.0m in FY23 to £526.0m in FY24, reflecting a £497.0m value retail impairment and H124 revaluation loss. Adjusted earnings of £99.0m were down from £116.0m a year earlier, principally due to impacts stemming from disposals.

However, Hammerson highlighted that it now has "one of the strongest balance sheets in the sector", with net debt down 40% year-on-year to £799.0m, resulting in a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 5.8x and a loan-to-value ratio of 30%.

The FTSE 250-listed group also recommended a final dividend of 8.07p per share, in line with its new policy of 80-85% of adjusted earnings, taking its FY24 dividend to 15.63p, a 4% year-on-year increase.

Chief executive Rita-Rose Gagné 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 £1.5bn of cash proceeds over the last four years, materially strengthening our capital structure, and enabling investment for growth in our high-quality portfolio.

"We are confident in our strategy and optimistic about the opportunity ahead for Hammerson. We continue to maintain a tight operational grip and are poised to deliver significant revenue and underlying earnings growth, with the full impact of our ongoing investments and acquisitions yet to be realised."

As of 0845 GMT, Hammerson shares were down 0.48% at 288.0p.







Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

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