Hammerson H1 2026 Earnings Report

Hammerson EPS Results

• Actual EPS: GBX 12.10
• Consensus EPS: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Hammerson Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: N/A
• Expected Revenue: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Hammerson Announcement Details

• Quarter: H1 2026
• Date: 7/30/2026
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Thursday, July 30, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 3:00AM ET

Hammerson (LON:HMSO) is a cities business. An owner, operator and developer of prime urban real estate, with a portfolio value of £4.7billion (as at 30 June 2023), in some of the fastest growing cities in the UK, Ireland and France. Our portfolio and adjacent lands leverage our experience and capabilities to create and manage exceptional city centre destinations with the opportunity to drive value and reshape entire neighbourhoods. Our assets are high profile and play an important role in our communities, welcoming c. 175 million visitors each year and supporting 20,000+ jobs though our retail, dining and social occupiers. These destinations include Bullring in Birmingham, The Oracle in Reading, Dundrum Estate, Dublin and Terraces du Port in Marseille. We also hold investments in Value Retail, best-in-class villages such as Bicester Village, Oxfordshire. Hammerson also holds 80 acres of attractive pre-development and strategic land. This includes complementary adjacent land, creating optionality to enhance both the scale and diversity of the existing estate, and stand-alone land opportunities. These include Martineau Galleries in Birmingham and Bishopsgate Goodsyard, Shoreditch.

Hammerson H1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Arndale acquisition completed: Hammerson is acquiring a 50% interest in Manchester’s Arndale Centre through an off-market deal with M&G. Management said the asset requires no urgent capital expenditure, with planned investment focused mainly on leasing, tenant mix, public realm and food-court improvements.
• Positive Sentiment: 2026 underlying earnings guidance was raised from £120 million to £125 million, driven by strong leasing, higher occupancy, new openings and turnover rent; including Arndale, guidance rises to £132 million, up 27% year over year.
• Positive Sentiment: Hammerson maintained its medium-term targets of 6%–8% annual EPS and DPS growth and approximately 10% total accounting return, supported by rental tension, upcoming repositioning projects and operating leverage.
• Positive Sentiment: The equity-funded acquisition reduces leverage and gives the company approximately £200 million of additional acquisition capacity while remaining within comfortable credit metrics.
• Neutral Sentiment: Portfolio valuations were flat at the half year, although management expects potential yield compression in the second half as transaction activity improves; the company also faces the need to refinance the remaining portion of a Eurobond maturing next June.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good morning. Thank you for attending today's Hammerson Half Year Results 2026 Q&A call with Rob Wilkinson and Himanshu Raja. My name is Sherry, and I will be your moderator today. All lines will be muted during the call. If you would like to ask a question, press star one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to pass the conference over to them. Please go ahead.

[Rob Wilkinson, CEO at Hammerson]

Morning, everyone. It's Rob Wilkinson here. Thanks for joining. Obviously, I'm conscious it's very busy day, a lot of reporting going on, we'll keep things nice and short and obviously want to focus on your Q&A. Without further ado, please do come forward if you have questions. Happy to answer them. Obviously, Himanshu with me as well.

[Operator]

Thank you. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. To remove your question, press star followed by two. Again, ask a question, press star one. As a reminder, if you are using a speakerphone, please remember to pick up your handset before asking a question. We will pause here briefly as questions are registered. Thank you so much. We will now take our first question from Zachary Gauge from UBS. Please go ahead.

[Zachary Gauge, Analyst at UBS]

Yeah. Hi, Rob. Hi, Himanshu. Thanks for taking the question. Just on Arndale. Obviously, this is an asset you had a look at last year, decided to not go ahead with it. I think some of the concerns at the time were the timing of reversion, the age of the asset, some of the CapEx that might have been required. Could you just sort of touch on what's changed in your thinking between then and now? Also on the ownership structure and management structure, how you see that sort of playing out, because if I understand correctly, it wouldn't directly come with 100% control of the management.

[Rob Wilkinson, CEO at Hammerson]

Morning, Zach. Thank you for the question. You're right. The asset was put on the market, or the interest we're acquiring was put on the market last summer, at an asking price of GBP 237 million. We participated in that process with others, and got through to the second round. In the second round, there was a timeline set out for the physical due diligence on the asset, which is something that we were not prepared to work towards, and I think the same was felt by others. In effect, that process was terminated and the sale did not go forward. We, on our side, though, have targeted this asset for some time. We stayed very much in contact with the vendors and we were therefore able to effectively agree a deal off-market, to acquire the interest, which is the purpose of obviously today's acquisition.

[Rob Wilkinson, CEO at Hammerson]

It was nothing to do with the asset at all. It was simply that the process was not one that we were comfortable participating in, and I think the others were feeling the same way. We're very excited about now being able to do so, as I said, on a bilateral basis. In terms of the management, yes, it's a sort of joint ownership and joint management with M&G. Obviously, they're a long-term investor like ourselves. We have had some discussions with them already around the business plan and strategy, and we're very much aligned with that. We will be looking to work with them as our partners to continue to deliver value on the center, and very much, I think, aligned in that respect and very comfortable with them as our partners alongside us.

[Zachary Gauge, Analyst at UBS]

Okay, great. The yield that's reported, net yield, does that include any assumptions on sort of CapEx backlog or sort of maintenance CapEx that might be required in the next few years?

[Rob Wilkinson, CEO at Hammerson]

There's no immediate urgent CapEx required. The fabric of the building is in good condition. The CapEx that we're setting out in the business plan is predominantly accretive, so linked to leasing and improving the tenant mix within the scheme. There's a little bit of more defensive CapEx, but that's really kind of public realm stuff, so the entrances and the streetscape. We'd like to look to improve the way-finding. The food court, I think at the upper end of the mall definitely needs some investment. It's kind of ordinary course of business CapEx that we would have across our portfolio as a whole.

[Zachary Gauge, Analyst at UBS]

Great. Thanks.

[Rob Wilkinson, CEO at Hammerson]

Okay.

[Operator]

Thank you so much. Next, we will take questions from James Carswell from Peel Hunt. Please go ahead.

[James Carswell, Analyst at Peel Hunt]

Morning. Apologies if this was just asked. I got kicked off the call, so I missed the previous questions. Just on the increase to the guidance, the underlying guidance for FY 2026, can you just talk us through the key kind of drivers behind that? Then it would also just be interesting to hear the kind of key assumptions behind the medium-term earnings and dividend growth targets you're setting. What kind of like for like Net Rental Income, for example, you're assuming in terms of the growth rates there. Thank you.

[Himanshu Raja, CFO at Hammerson]

Morning, James. Himanshu here. Thanks for your question. The upgrade guidance today reflects, first of all, the benefit of a small number of one-offs in the first half, the settlement of longstanding rate rebates, that's just over a couple of million. Fundamentally, the upgrade is driven by strong underlying performance in leasing and that driving increased occupancy into the second half. As we do that, of course, your void costs become service charge income. We also see the benefit of all of the flurry of openings that we've had over the course of the year, driving through to share of turnover rent. That is why it's not GBP 64 at first half times two, but nonetheless, an upgrade from the previously guided GBP 120 million of earnings up to GBP 125.

[Himanshu Raja, CFO at Hammerson]

When you add the seven on for today's acquisition of Arndale, GBP 132 million guidance up 27% year-on-year. Second part of your question was on medium-term guidance. Medium-term guidance, the first thing to highlight is it's now off the 2025 base. Our previous guidance was at the time of the Value Retail disposal, and since then, of course, we've consolidated our JV. Off that higher base, we're still maintaining that 6%-8% both EPS and DPS CAGR and the TAR of around 10% over the medium term, which we consider to be five years. Drivers of that, again, it's the fundamental strength of the portfolio. We see the opportunity for similar 4%-5% growth in 2027 on a like-for-like basis.

[Himanshu Raja, CFO at Hammerson]

You'll recall, we have a number of repositions coming on stream in 2027, like further repositioning at The Oracle, Quakers Exchange at Cabot Circus, and also the opening of our surgery extension. They'll all be drivers. Beyond that, 2028 and beyond, we see inflation plus growth coming through by continuing to push rental tension. All of that kind of growth translates into the reduction in our FPRO cost ratio as we get fundamental operational gearing. Take Arndale as an example this morning. We will not be adding any incremental resource as we onboard the co-management of Arndale this morning. That operational gearing drives through to the growth in earnings and dividends to follow.

[Operator]

Thank you. Next, we will take a question from Tom Berry from Green Street. Please go ahead.

[Tom Berry, Analyst at Green Street]

Morning, guys. Just a quick one on the U.K. like-for-like NRI figure. Wondered if you could give a bit more color on that split across assets. I know you said Westquay has dragged, but it's a fairly significant decline. Just a bit more color on the sort of asset breakdown would be great.

[Himanshu Raja, CFO at Hammerson]

Two parts to that question. Westquay simply reflects that this time last year, we had had a surrender, which we saw the benefit of that does not naturally repeat, and that affects the year-over-year comparison. Actually overall, like-for-like in the U.K., the strength was driven again by the repositioning. We saw really strong performance at the Bullring, strong performance at Cabot, and strong performance at Oracle. Recognize, Tom, that the various U.K. assets are at different stages of that repositioning journey. We are really encouraged now, four years on, for example, from the reposition of Bullring, that we are still continuing to drive rental tension there. In particular, the positioning of one of the kind of East Upper Mall there, which was a quieter end of the scheme. Again, the repositionings there with occupiers like New Balance coming in, have seen that drive real uplift.

[Himanshu Raja, CFO at Hammerson]

Even four years into a repositioning at somewhere like Bullring, we are still able to drive that kind of rental growth. Across the board, depending on just where the asset is in its repositioning journey.

[Tom Berry, Analyst at Green Street]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. Next, we will take a question from Veronique Mertens from Kempen. Please go ahead.

[Veronique Mertens, Analyst at Kempen]

Good morning, all. Thank you for taking my question and congratulations on the transaction. Briefly getting back to that medium-term target, just so I understand it clearly, at the full year, I think you actually upped it, and I appreciate the base is different, although 2025 was not per se the year with the highest growth yet. That's more to come in the coming years. Is maybe also the forward-looking period extended, or why is it now six to eight instead of 8-10?

[Himanshu Raja, CFO at Hammerson]

It simply reflects the roll forward of another year and off the higher base, Veronique. Remember when we guided at the time of the Value Retail, we gave an underlying baseline of around GBP 85 million of underlying earnings, excluding the impact of Value Retail. It's a simple roll forward of a year, and then, we always look to five years on our medium-term guidance.

[Veronique Mertens, Analyst at Kempen]

Okay. Thank you. Perhaps on the balance sheet. Through this acquisition, you over-equitize, so you reduce your LTV. Is it to create more firepower for you, or is it also to maybe take a more conservative stance on the balance sheet at the moment and, for a longer period, reduce your leverage metrics?

[Rob Wilkinson, CEO at Hammerson]

It's Rob here. It's a little bit of both in reality, Veronique, because it clearly does bring the credit metrics down. That said, we've been very clear, Himanshu and I have been very comfortable where they were previously. That's not the concern. This just gives us the ability to bring them down, but it also gives us some optionality on funding going forward. If a transaction were to become available and the execution required quick timing, it gives us some flexibility to acquire further. Gives us around GBP 200 million or so of additional capacity to keep us within, again, credit metrics we'd be very comfortable. It's a little bit of both in a way.

[Veronique Mertens, Analyst at Kempen]

Okay. That's clear. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you so much. Next question is from Pranava Boyidapu from Barclays. Please go ahead.

[Pranava Boyidapu, Analyst at Barclays]

Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. Firstly, obviously the results are pretty good, the income growth has been pretty strong. The capital return is still mildly negative. Is that just a factor of yield or is there anything else going on there?

[Rob Wilkinson, CEO at Hammerson]

Sure. It's Rob again here. Thank you for the question. Yeah, valuations at half year were flat, I think reflective of two things, really. Obviously, the situation in the Middle East, which I think has created an element of uncertainty, until perhaps more recently, which I'll come back to. Those sort of yields were kept flat to the half year. At the beginning of the year, I anticipated there might be some compression. I think the Middle East has changed that perspective. We don't see decompression. They have flat-lined the yields to the first half. That said, I think two things. One, I've just mentioned that we have seen a renewed level of activity within our market in the last six to eight weeks. It's my anticipation that that could lead to some yield compression in the second half of this year.

[Rob Wilkinson, CEO at Hammerson]

I think we could see some uplift coming through. The other aspect is ERVs, where we continue, as I've mentioned a bit earlier, in terms of our spreads, to see significant spread above ERV at 9% to this first half. We expect that to kind of flow through into the valuations as well in due course. Yeah, flat to half year, but anticipation of some uplift in the second half.

[Pranava Boyidapu, Analyst at Barclays]

Thank you. My second question is regarding your debt maturity profile. Obviously, you have the Eurobond coming due next year, and I believe you have sort of pre-funded it earlier as well. Obviously if you have opportunities coming through, cash is fungible effectively. Do you have any plans to maybe come to market issuing either sterling or in euros in the near future?

[Himanshu Raja, CFO at Hammerson]

Thanks for your question. The Eurobond matures next June. As you've rightly identified, we've pre-funded part of that, the remaining needs to be funded, we'll be in the market at the appropriate time. You'll note that the kind of June issuance we got away at 3.875%. Had we been a month earlier or a month later, that probably would have begun with a four. As you know, we have an EMTN program in place, which allows us to respond to the market with agility. We'll just try and pick the right timing for that.

[Pranava Boyidapu, Analyst at Barclays]

Okay. Thank you very much.

[Operator]

Thank you so much. There are no questions waiting at this time. I will pass the conference back over to Rob for any closing remarks.

[Rob Wilkinson, CEO at Hammerson]

Thank you all again for attending. We're delighted to present the strong results we have and of course, the acquisition of 50% of Arndale and the equity raising associated with that. Again, thank you for all your support, and look forward to continuing to work together. Thank you.

[Himanshu Raja, CFO at Hammerson]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you so much. That concludes the Hammerson Half Year Results 2026 Q&A call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your line.

Participants

Executives

• Rob Wilkinson, CEO
• Himanshu Raja, CFO

Analysts

• Zachary Gauge, Analyst at UBS
• James Carswell, Analyst at Peel Hunt
• Tom Berry, Analyst at Green Street
• Veronique Mertens, Analyst at Kempen
• Pranava Boyidapu, Analyst at Barclays