Hammerson chief executive to step down

David Atkins to depart as shopping centre owner grapples with coronavirus fallout

The chief executive of Hammerson is to step down after a decade at the helm, as coronavirus darkens the outlook for the shopping centre owner. 

David Atkins will leave no later than the spring of 2021, the company said on Wednesday, while it searches for a successor who will be given the task of reversing its fortunes and reviving its share price.

“The current environment, exacerbated by the impact of Covid-19, is undoubtedly the most challenging we have faced as a business. I feel now is the right time to search for a new chief executive, a person who can not only lead the business as we emerge from this period, but also into its next chapter,” said Mr Atkins.

His departure comes as coronavirus has added to the challenges faced by Hammerson and the wider retail sector. Along with other retail landlords, Hammerson received just over a third of the rent it was due for the second quarter of the year as pandemic restrictions forced stores to shut. 

The third-quarter payment total, due on June 24, is expected to be worse still, with most shops having been closed since the UK’s lockdown began on March 23.

Earlier this month, a planned £400m sale of seven retail parks to private equity fund Orion fell through. Despite agreeing a price 22 per cent below the June 2019 book value of the properties, Orion backed out of the deal, surrendering a £21m deposit. 

Hammerson owns shopping centres in the UK and Europe including Brent Cross in London and the Bull Ring in Birmingham.

During his tenure, Mr Atkins has focused the group on so-called destination retail, attempting to make shopping centres attractive places to visit in their own right. He also led the acquisition of centres in mainland Europe and in Ireland and the disposal of a London office portfolio. 

However, the focus on retail has left the company exposed to the decline in bricks and mortar stores, which has been hastened by an increase in online shopping and, more recently, by the pandemic. 

Concerns about the future of retail in the UK were already growing when Hammerson rejected a £5bn takeover proposal from France’s Klépierre to pursue an abandoned £3.4bn takeover of rival Intu in 2018, and have become more clamorous since.

Mr Atkins was appointed in the wake of the financial crisis, which knocked Hammerson’s share price from a high of £16 to less than a quarter of that. A gradual recovery lasted until 2015, from which point its shares slid from £6.83 to just 75p, giving it a market value of £576m. 

“Not much has gone right with Hammerson’s strategy in the last five years,” said one analyst. The company was battling against broader shifts in the sector, but had nonetheless badly underperformed peers in recent years, he added.