Hammerson’s London-listed shares dropped by 14% over the course of trading on Monday.
The fall left the company suffering the sharpest drop in the FTSE 250 – which closed down 1.9% at 19,499 – and the FTSE 350, which finished the day down 0.5% at 4,173. The REIT’s stock closed at 22.53p, a near-month low.
A spokesman for Hammerson declined to comment on the fall, but market sources familiar with the company’s stock said the cause of the drop was unclear.
News of Amigo Loans founder James Benamor building a 3% stake in the company is unlikely to have affected sentiment, they said, and the company is understood to have minimal rental exposure to troubled cinema chain Cineworld, shares in which dropped by a fifth today to a fresh low of 3.2p.
However, predictions by analysts at US investment bank Citi that UK inflation could reach 18% next year are seen as denting the appeal of consumer-reliant stocks.
Investors posting their takes on online share forums discussed challenges ahead for such companies. If inflation were to rise in line with Citi’s note and interest rates jump, said one, there would be “a double whammy as borrowing costs increase for [Hammerson] and people have less disposable income because they are spending it all on energy and the essentials, so footfall and rents will fall as the high street dies yet again”.
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