Immofinanz generated strong growth in the results of operations and net profit during the first half-year. The expansion of the portfolio through acquisitions in Bucharest and Italy during recent months will be continued. The acquisition and development project pipeline has a volume of more than €1 billion.
Key results
- Strong performance with a net profit of €228.6 million
- Successful crisis management in volatile times leads to a substantial improvement of 73% in results of operations to €103.3 million
- FFO 1 reaches €64.4 million and tops the pre-crisis level in 2019
- EPRA NTA per share rises by 7.8% since the beginning of the year to €30.0
- Acquisitions and development projects of €1.0 billion by 2024
Immofinanz delivered strong results for the first half of 2021. The results of operations rose by a sound 73% to €103.3 million, above all due to an increase in the results of asset management and the results of property development combined with cost savings, and shows the professional performance of Immofinanz employees in all markets. The progress of vaccination campaigns and the related economic upturn supported the recovery of part of the crisis-related property write-downs from the previous year. Net profit turned strongly positive and, at €228.6 million, clearly exceeded the pre-crisis half-year in 2019. FFO 1, which excludes valuation results and reflects the company‘s operating cash flow earning power, improved by 7.7% to €64.4 million and also substantially exceeded the pre-crisis FFO 1 from the 2019 reference period.
“The strong development of our business and portfolio in the first half of 2021 underscores the excellent position of our real estate products in both crisis times and for the following years as well as our pioneering role in Europe – with regard to our high-quality, flexible myhive office solutions and our standing as Europe’s leading retail park operator. From this basis, we intend to continue our growth course as one of the major European real estate companies and are planning acquisitions and development projects for more than one billion euros by 2024“, indicated Dietmar Reindl, COO of Immofinanz. Plans include the further expansion of the existing asset classes with myhive in Vienna and in the capital cities of the core countries. The Stop Shop retail park portfolio will grow from roughly 100 to 140 locations, whereby the country focus will be placed on Italy and Croatia, CEE and, selectively, also on Western Europe.
“We are very well positioned for this growth with a robust balance sheet structure, more than one billion euros of available liquidity, our investment-grade rating and favourable financing costs of 1.9%. In view of the strong earnings and financial situation and successful crisis management, we will make a recommendation to the annual general meeting for the 2020 financial year to increase the dividend from €0.55 per share to €0.75 per share“, explained Stefan Schönauer, CFO of Immofinanz. The 28th annual general meeting is scheduled for 19 October 2021.
Property portfolio grows to €5.1 billion
Immofinanz’s portfolio included 209 properties with a combined carrying amount of €5.1 billion at the end of June 2021 (31 December 2020: €5.0 billion). Of this total, approximately 64% are attributable to the office business and 35% to the retail business. The gross return equals 5.9% based on IFRS rental income and 6.2% based on invoiced rents. The occupancy rate equals 94.1% and continues to represent a high level in international comparison (31 December 2020: 96.0%). The retail properties are essentially fully rented with an occupancy rate of 97.5%, and all of the space in our shopping centres and retail parks is open without limitation. The office business registered a slight decline in the occupancy rate to 90.3% during the first half-year – primarily due to a reduction in the space leased by a major tenant in Germany which was hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the still challenging environment, we completed several new major long-term rentals: for example, nearly 11,000 sqm to a leading Romanian medical centre provider in Bucharest.
