In the aftermath of the subprime meltdown, how are property-sector CFOs coping?
"We are in the eye of the storm," says Simon Melliss, the long-serving finance chief of Hammerson, one of the UK's largest property groups. This particular storm started last summer after the US's subprime mortgage meltdown, and is battering companies like Hammerson as property values plummet and funding, not to mention investor confidence, dry up. Hammerson's share price, like those of many of its competitors, has already been hit hard, falling more than 40% over the past year.
But unlike the sector's last dramatic downturn, which brought developer after developer to their knees in the early 1990s, Melliss says most of Europe's property companies — contrary to popular belief — are financially fit to weather this storm. "The problems in the 1990s were in the trade and development type of company — buying and selling, buying and selling," he recalls.
See full Article.
Posts
