Dundrum parking and Dublin retail rents have boosted a UK property giant's profits
London-based Hammerson co-owns several shopping centres around the Irish capital.
RISING DUBLIN RETAIL rents and parking fees at Dundrum Town Centre have boosted the financial performance of one of the UK’s biggest property companies.
London-based property investment and development group Hammerson announced this morning that its sales and adjusted profits both rose in the six months to the end of June.
Sales were £184 million (€206 million), up from £168 million during the same period in 2016, while adjusted profits rose from £113 million to almost £120 million.
Contributing to this was the company’s buoyant Irish operation. The firm entered the Irish market in October 2015 when it bought a major loan portfolio, secured on several Dublin retail assets, from Nama.
Following negotiations with the borrowers, it struck deals that saw it secure ownership of several sites, including 50% of the Dundrum Town Centre and 50% of the Ilac Centre in Dublin city.
Hammerson said today that its Irish portfolio generated net rental income of £17.4 million during the first six months of the year, which it said represented like-for-like growth of 12%.
Dundrum Town Centre
The main reason for the strong performance was due to the Dundrum Town Centre, the company said.
“Additional income arose from the settlement of rent reviews and new lettings, as well as additional revenues from car park and commercialisation activities,” it said.
The firm is also set to get an extra stream of income courtesy of its Irish portfolio.
Shoppers in Dundrum Town Centre
In January, joint owners Hammerson and Irish Life started a major redevelopment of the Ilac Centre’s Moore Street end.
The project, which involved the refurbishment of the mall and transforming 10 units into five larger flagship stores, has now been completed.
Hammerson said that these new flagship stores have been let to brands “including Regatta, The Works and Nisbetts at more than double the previous passing rent”.
Strategy
More broadly, Hammerson said that occupancy levels across its Irish portfolio stood at 99.9% at the end of the period.
“We have a clear leasing strategy to deliver rental growth and enhance the tenant mix and overall experience at each of the centres,” the company said.
“We have applied our group-wide commercialisation approach to Ireland which will generate additional income and drive footfall.”
Dublin had one of the world’s biggest spikes in high street retail rents last year, according to recent research from CBRE Ireland, which said demand for prime shops in the city remained “robust”.
