Globalworth has announced changes to the company's Board of Directors. Bruce Buck, who was appointed as an Investor Director by Zakiono on 13 December 2017, has ceased to be a Director with immediate effect and Martin Bartyzal has been appointed as an Investor Director with immediate effect.

Ever since the World Health Organization declared a pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus, our lifestyles and the way business is done have changed completely worldwide. Although the end of the several-week-long isolation is close, it is quite certain that this period will have its effects on many aspects of life. This is also reflected in the results of a major survey recently conducted by a leading real estate consultancy CBS International, part of Cushman & Wakefield Group, called "Traditional Office vs. Home Office in a Changed Business Environment". The survey involved 250 domestic and international companies from different industries, based in Serbia, and the results comprehensively illustrated how COVID-19 affected and will affect their business in the future.

The Supervisory Board of Immofinanz resolved upon the appointment of Ronny Pecik as member of the Executive Board of the company for three years starting with 4 May 2020. Ronny Pecik will be Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Sooner or later, many companies that recommended their employees to work from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic will return to their offices. Whether this happens in a matter of two, four or six weeks, it is a good idea to start preparing for the move now. The Six Feet Office concept offers rules and aids to enable and facilitate the observance of the safe six-feet distance for increased employee safety. The companies that implement these rules will be able to accelerate the return of their employees to the offices, and thus their own return to normal.

Globalworth is significantly scaling back its construction and development programme and suspended new investment activity. The company posted an update on COVID-19’s implications for its operations.

Owners are looking carefully at their exposure to risk, especially in terms of covenant strength and government measures affecting rental payments, according to Colliers International’s CEE Investment report for Q1 2020. Residential tops the sectors due to one deal but offices (27% share) have maintained their place in the order of preference, closely followed by industrial and logistics (26% share) in Q1 2020.

70% of office building managers confirmed the adverse effects of the current restrictions on contract negotiations in a survey conducted by Walter Herz. The consulting company analysed how companies in Poland are coping with the current situation on the office market and what effects does home office bring. 

Immofinanz published its results for the 2019 financial year. The clear improvement of 18.1% in rental income and 30.2% in FFO 1 from the standing investment business underscore the profitable growth of the portfolio to approximately €5.1 billion. Net profit rose by 61.9% to €352.1 million and goes hand in hand with a solid financial position: Cash and cash equivalents total €345.1 million. In order to strengthen this very good cash position, an unsecured revolving credit facility of €100 million was concluded at the end of March 2020.

Our latest online panel focused on leasing issues arising during the coronavirus lockdown in the Czech Republic. The six experts of the panel, moderated by Jaroslav Kaizr, discussed the impact of COVID-19 on current lease agreements and gave an overview of the potential immediate and long-term implications of the coronavirus crisis.

The preliminary investment volumes for the CEE region for Q1 2020 have reached ca. €3.7 billion, despite the onset of COVID-19 in CEE at the beginning of March, according to Colliers International.