Neinor Evaluates Rental Market but Insists on Maintaining its Margins

31 October 2018 – El Economista

Neinor Homes sees a clear business opportunity in the rental market in Spain. Nevertheless, it is not going to enter the segment if doing so would reduce its profit margin.

That is according to Juan Velayos (pictured above), the CEO of the firm, who indicates that Neinor “must be clear about what it is and what it wants to be, and we want to be a property developer, and as such, our profitability is sacred”. On that basis, Velayos recognises that “there is a clear business opportunity in that sector and very few companies have the capacity that we have to produce rental homes”.

In fact, he says that “many players who want to take positions in the rental market are approaching us, and although I am not going to close an operation tomorrow, we are evaluating lots of options, whenever they are coherent with our business model. Common sense tells me that we ought to be capable of meeting that need in the market and for the business to be profitable for Neinor”, said Velayos.

The property developer, which had managed to multiply its operating EBITDA by four by the end of September, to reach €9.5 million, expects to close this year in the black, “in a comfortable way”, highlights Velayos, who believes that the firm’s EBITDA at the end of December will amount to around €50 million, in line with the consensus of the market.

At the end of September, the firm had recorded a loss of €1.2 million and revenues of €156 million. “The most interesting aspect is that €100 million of that turnover came from the development arm, whilst €32 million came from the Legacy business and €23 million from Servicing”, highlights the director.

Neinor has committed to handing over 1,000 homes this year, spread across 14 promotions. “Nine of them have already been handed over and during the last quarter, the keys to the remaining five will be handed over, given that they now have their final construction certificate”, specifies the director, who assures that the 1,000 units are almost all pre-sold. “We only have 2% left, which we have not been marketing because we are waiting until the end to maximise the price of the best units”.

“We have been on a journey that has involved a lot of work over the last three years and now we are starting to hand over a significant volume of homes, which actually represent more than all of our major competitors put together. Neinor started first and so now we are reaping the rewards”, highlights Velayos.

Specifically, the company has an order book comprising 3,049 homes, which represent a volume of pre-sales of €1.019 billion. Moreover, comparing units with the same characteristics, the property developer has managed to achieve an 8.2% increase in prices and has also increased its margin to 28%.

That has allowed the firm to handle rising construction costs, which have increased by 3.8%, without any problems. Those costs “are expected to continue to rise, by 6%, but we will also seek to increase our margins”, says Velayos.

For next year, the company has set itself the target of handing over 2,000 homes in 31 developments where building work is already underway. “We also have some very solid pre-sales figures for 2019 of 78%; and the rest are not being marketed, given that the best way of protecting our margin is to wait to sell those units”, explains the CEO of Neinor (…).

Currently, the company has one of the largest land banks with capacity for 13,700 homes (…).

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake