Hammerson chief executive David Atkins says he has put the company back on the front foot after it got out of step with the market during the downturn.
Speaking candidly about his first 12 months in the top job at the FTSE 100 company, Atkins told a Face-to-Face event organised by property marketing group Profile: “Hammerson got out of step with the market – and when you do that it’s not nice.”
He added: “I believe we’ve achieved a lot in the last twelve months and got Hammerson back on the front foot.”
In a wide-ranging interview about his upbringing, career before Hammerson and his time at the company, Atkins added that in his opinion it is too early to judge the performance of UK REITs.
“REITs were born at a high point in the market – but they had to be in order to get the Treasury to accept the lost revenue [that would entail] because they got the conversion charge. In today’s market there’s no way in which we could have achieved that.”
Hammerson chief executive David Atkins says he has put the company back on the front foot after it got out of step with the market during the downturn.
Speaking candidly about his first 12 months in the top job at the FTSE 100 company, Atkins told a Face-to-Face event organised by property marketing group Profile: “Hammerson got out of step with the market – and when you do that it’s not nice.” He added: “I believe we’ve achieved a lot in the last twelve months and got Hammerson back on the front foot.” In a wide-ranging interview about his upbringing, career before Hammerson and his time at the company, Atkins added that in his opinion it is too early to judge the performance of UK REITs. “REITs were born at a high point in the market – but they had to be in order to get the Treasury to accept the lost revenue [that would entail] because they got the conversion charge. In today’s market there’s no way in which we could have achieved that.” lucy.barnard@estatesgazette.com
