Hammerson
Hammerson plc is a major British property development and investment company. It is traded on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The majority of Hammerson's portfolio is in the United Kingdom, but is also operates in Contintental Europe, including operations in France and Germany. It invests mainly in offices and retail premises.
The business was founded by Lewis Hammerson, who began to invest in property in 1942, converting houses into apartments. His company L.W. Hammerson & Co moved into the commericial property sector in 1948 and became a listed company in 1953. It first expanded outside the UK in the 1960s, when it moved into Australia, New Zealand and the United States. In the 1970s it ventured onto the continent and back in the UK it developed the Brent Cross Shopping Centre, which was the first major covered shopping centre in the country. In the 1990s the operations outside Europe were sold and further properties were acquired in Europe. 2003 saw the opening of the new Bull Ring shopping centre in Birmingham, which was one of the largest city centre retail developments ever built in the UK.
Hammerson's profits for the year ended 31 December 2004 were £127.2 million before tax. At 30 June 2005 its property portfolio was valued at just under £4.8 billion.