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The owner of shopping centres such as Birmingham's Bullring and Cabot Circus in Bristol has reported a hit to earnings after selling off its stake in the owner of Bicester Village.

Hammerson reported a 15 per cent drop in underlying earnings to £99 million for 2024 after it offloaded retail assets, including the holding in Value Retail business to private equity firm L Catterton.

It booked a £497 million impairment in the first half of 2024 due to the sale, despite banking £595 million in cash from the deal.

This sent it to a bottom line loss of £526 million, against losses of £51 million the previous year.

Rental income dropped nine per cent to £189 million as asset sales also took their toll.

But the group cheered a "transformative" year after the Bicester Village stake sale which has allowed it to focus on its urban retail real estate and reduce debts.

The group also hailed a rebound in occupancy across its centres which stood at more than 95 per cent while gross rents rose 1.6 per cent on a like-for-like basis.

It added that more shoppers were visiting its shopping centres, up 600,000 to 170 million across the year.

Chief executive Rita-Rose Gagne said: "Following a transformative and successful year for Hammerson, we enter 2025 as a repositioned business.

"In landing the pivotal sale of Value Retail and completing our non-core disposals, we have generated £1.5 billion of cash proceeds over the last four years, materially strengthening our capital structure, and enabling investment for growth in our high-quality portfolio."

She added there was "more to come", with the group "poised to deliver significant revenue and underlying earnings growth, with the full impact of our ongoing investments and acquisitions yet to be realised".