Cabot Circus owner reveals worst year for rent on record

COMMERCIAL property business Hammerson has written down the value of its shopping centres and stores by nearly £2 billion as Covid19 saw rental income suffer the biggest fall in the company’s history.

Bosses at the company, which owns Cabot Circus in Bristol and London’s Brent Cross, said its properties were worth £6.34 billion at the end of 2020 compared with £8.33 billion a year earlier.

Net rental income in 2020 fell 48.9 per cent to £157.6 million, with adjusted profits at the firm falling 82.9 per cent to £36.5 million.

The UK was the worst affected, with flagship sites and retail parks suffering like-for-like declines of 51 per cent and 42 per cent respectively, compared to falls of 18 per cent in France and 30 per cent in Ireland.

Drops in valuations were particularly hard for shopping centres – down 35.8 per cent – and retail parks were off by 23.3 per cent.

But the company’s discount outlet retail parks only fell 6.2 per cent.

Rita-Rose Gagne, chief executive of Hammerson, said: “By any measure, 2020 was an unprecedented year with every business and household affected by Covid-19.

“As our results show, Hammerson was hit hard. The retail sector, already in the grip of major structural change, has been significantly impacted by the restrictions imposed to tackle the pandemic, and we’ve also seen an increasing number of retail failures. Combined, this has resulted in the largest fall in net rental income and UK asset values in the group’s history.”

She added that she was hopeful for the future as lockdown restrictions eased and the vaccination rollout continued at pace.

THANK goodness for the country that Prince William was born before his brother and is the future heir.

William is intelligent, thoughtful, caring and dutiful. Harry is impetuous, disloyal, egocentric, easily led and seems unable to see what the likely end result of his actions will be.

He lacks the ability of his brother, father and paternal grandparents to put his country before all other issues.

They bring people and cultures together in a way that is envied throughout the world and assists in building bridges and trade.

While there are still areas that need improvement and mistakes made, under Elizabeth’s stewardship the Royal Family have reformed massively and, regardless of what some would say, the changes have been enthusiastically embraced by most within the family.

While being royal clearly comes with its privileges, it is not a vocation that many would be capable of carrying out, or prepared to perform.

It is a 24-hour, 365-day-a-year role as, even in the privacy of their homes, staff will be coming into contact with them and, undoubtedly, forming opinions which, in this disloyal day and age, could be leaked.

Knowing that every action you carry out and every word you utter will be forensically scrutinised by some seeking to find fault is way more than most people would be prepared to tolerate, regardless of those privileges. Harry seems never to have understood this.

Fortunately the future heirs to the throne demonstrate all the right qualities to ensure a smooth transition and the country will be safe in their hands.

Stuart Husbands

Devon