Analysts have welcomed Hammerson’s decision to offload its £600m offices portfolio to concentrate on retail in the UK and France.
Following the REIT’s announcement today that it would sell its office investments over the medium term, with capital redeployed to retail properties, broker Peel Hunt said: “The intention to become a specialist retail player should deepen retailer relations and attract further joint venture capital to enable the company to recycle capital.”
Miranda Cockburn of Oriel Securities said: “We had been hoping for this news and believe this specialisation will benefit shareholders, providing them with a credible 100% retail-focused alternative to Capital Shopping Centres and enabling management to generate superior returns, as well as grow dividends at a higher rate.”
A JP Morgan analyst added: “The fact that management has thought about the strategy and made a decision to focus purely on high-quality retail will be taken positively and further enhance management credibility.”
Hammerson’s announced the proposed disposals in its 2011 financial results, where it also recorded net asset value increased 7.1% in 2011 to 530p a share and like-for-like rental income rose 2.5 %.
joanna.bourke@estatesgazette.com
