Dundrum Town Centre owner Hammerson saw the value of its Irish assets decline by 13.3 per cent last year due to what it described as “outward yield shift”.
The assets were valued in its full year results at £522 million (€630 million) at the end of December 2024, down from £630 million a year earlier. The decline was the result of a £27 million movement in foreign exchange and £80 million hit on yield.
Hammerson jointly owns the Dundrum Town Centre with German insurer Allianz. Other assets include a 50 per cent share in the Ilac Centre in Dublin city, and the Pavilions retail complex in Swords, north Dublin. Both of those are jointly owned with Irish Life Assurance plc.
The passing rent for Dundrum, Ilac and Pavilions amounted to £36.9 million last year, down from £39 million in 2023.
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By contrast, the value of Hammerson’s UK shopping malls increase by 4.2 per cent in 2024 as the retailers that survived the pandemic compete for the best space, reinflating rents after years of decline.
The retail landlord reported like-for-like gross rental income that was 1.6 per cent higher after leasing 1 million square feet of space across 262 deals and bringing in £41 million (€49 million) of rent, a record for the business, according to a statement Wednesday.
The company has signed £156 million in new leases since 2020 at rents that are 32 per cent higher than they were before the pandemic.
Still, the company reported a £497 million impairment on the sale of its stake in outlet mall owner Value Retail that drove it to a £526 million loss for the year. Hammerson chief executive Rita-Rose Gagne has overseen a transformation of the business since her appointment in 2020, selling off swathes of the portfolio to generate £1.5 billion in cash, slash its debt pile and focus the business on dominant city centre properties.
“The flight to quality where occupiers want fewer and more productive stores in only these locations, enables us to attract leading global and local brand partners,” Ms Gagne said.
The company’s overall portfolio valuation slipped to £2.7 billion following the disposals and a 13 per cent write down on the value of its Irish portfolio, despite the increase in its UK and French properties.
Hammerson’s loan to value ratio, a measure of its relative indebtedness, dropped to 30 per cent from 34 per cent a year earlier. – Bloomberg
