The property group behind some of the UK's best-known shopping centres has cut its pre-tax losses dramatically despite the covid restrictions throughout last year.
Hammerson posted today a loss of £408 million for 2021, down from £1.73 billion the previous year.
The results come as the listed group has been bolstered by more than £500 million worth of sales and rebounding rental demand.
Hammerson owns and operates well known sites such as Bullring and Grand Central in Birmingham, Cabot Circus in Bristol, Highcross in Leicester and Victoria in Leeds.
In an update to the stock exchange today, it said it had seen "tangible results" since shifting its strategy and disposing of significant assets following the heavy toll of the pandemic.
Last year, it sold a raft of sites including its entire UK retail park business for £330 million to Canadian private equity firm Brookfield and the Silverburn shopping centre near Glasgow for around £140 million.
The group revealed it had cut its net debt by 18 per cent to £1.8 billion by the end of the year and stressed it had "more to do" as part of the strategy.
Footfall recovery was "strong" across all its territories when restrictions relaxed, the company added.
It also highlighted a strong demand for prime retail space, with the leasing value of its flagship sites rising by 150 per cent against the previous year to £25 million.
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Chief executive Rita-Rose Gagne said: "The pandemic has accelerated trends in our operating environment, with people engaging with physical space in new ways.
"Our role is to create and curate relevant, appealing and sustainable spaces for the future. We are already seeing the tangible results from our strategy, with strong occupier leasing demand, reduced vacancies, improved collections, a lower cost base and clear path to value creation from our land bank."
Industry analysts said the figures showed improvement across the business but highlighted that more still needed to be done.
"Full-year 2021 results show signs of capital value stabilisation but there is still a long way to go to rebuild the business," commented analysts at Liberum.
