Tag: profits

Merlin’s Revenues Rose by 5.2% to €509M in 2018

1 March 2019 – Expansión

The Socimi Merlin Properties closed 2018 with an increase in revenues thanks to the strong performance of its rental properties. Its total turnover amounted to €509 million, up by 5.2%, boosted by a 6.5% improvement in gross sales to €500 million. The real estate company’s EBITDA reached €403 million, up by 2.8%. The operating result fell by 22% to €855 million.

The company’s main source of income is the rental from its office buildings, followed by its shopping centres. The value of the Socimi’s assets amounted to €12.0 billion at the end of December 2018, which represented a YoY increase of 6.1%. The occupancy rate of its property portfolio rose to 93.4%.

Yesterday, the company highlighted the cost control of its financial debt, which amounted to €4.9 billion with an indebtedness ratio of just over 40% and financial costs that have reduced to 2.13% following the most recent refinancings.

The company has a cash balance of €350 million (…). In 2018, Merlin undertook investments amounting to €569 million and property sales amounting to €594 million, with a premium for its divestments of 3.1% (…).

Merlin’s share price closed trading at €11.10 per share yesterday, down by 1.2%.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Meliá Earned 13% More in 2018 but its Revenues Fell by 1.5%

1 March 2019 – Expansión

Meliá ended the year with a slight decrease in revenues (1.5%) to €1.83 billion, which it blamed on a deceleration in the tourism sector. Nevertheless, its net profits rose by 13% to €140 million.

The decrease in revenues was due above all to the impact of the devaluation of the US dollar in the America region during the first quarter of the year – one of the most important for the company in the region – and the closure of several hotels for renovation in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. There was also a slow down in the Mediterranean and Cuba.

Despite the slow down in turnover, the company’s EBITDA increased by 7% to €326 million, following the sale of three hotels to the Socimi Atom in the summer and due to an appreciation in the value of its assets. Excluding those gains, Meliá’s EBITDA in the period increased by 0.9% to €307 million (…).

Looking ahead to 2019, Meliá is cautious regarding the evolution of the markets in America and the Canary Islands, but, by contrast, is optimistic about the markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), where it expects RevPAR growth of low to average digits, primarily due to the strong outlook in Continental Europe, as well as in Spain. Specifically, it forecasts a recovery in Barcelona, Madrid and Sevilla.

Original story: Expansión (by R.A)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Lar España’s Profits Fell by 4.6% in 2018 to €129.3M

1 March 2019 – Expansión

Lar España recorded a net profit of €129.3 million in 2018, which represented a decrease of 4.6% with respect to the previous year, whilst its revenues grew by 0.3% to €77.8 million.

According to explanations provided by the company, this result includes a charge of €17.9 million in the first quarter, to comply with the Grupo Lar management contract, as it achieved divestments of €100 million.

Without that negative effect, which is only going to be recorded in 2018 (…), the resulted would have amounted to €155.7 million, 7% more than in the previous year. Meanwhile, the EBITDA amounted to €55 million, up by 0.3%.

The firm completed divestments amounting to €272.5 million in 2018 and invested €75.6 million in the renovation of its asset portfolio.

In terms of dividends, the sale of the luxury homes at Lagasca 99 (Madrid) will allow the company to increase its remuneration to shareholders from €0.49 in 2017 to €0.80 in 2018, a rise of 63.2%.

At the end of 2018, the firm’s financial debt amounted to €621.7 million. Last year, its assets appreciated in value by 12.1% (…).

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Colonial’s Profits Fell by 23% in 2018 to €525M

26 February 2019 – El Confidencial

Colonial closed 2018 with revenues from rental income of €347 million, up by 23% compared to a year earlier. Nevertheless, the Socimi’s profit decreased by 23% to €525 million, given that in 2017, the firm recorded a gain from the sale of a building in Paris – In & Out – for €445 million and was converted into a Socimi. The buildings contributed by the merger with Axiare generated €56 million, equivalent to 16.1% of the total.

These are Colonial’s first results following the completion of its merger with Axiare, the Socimi over which it launched a €1.45 billion takeover in November 2017, and in a year in which it also increased its stake in the French firm Société Foncière Lyonnaise (SFL).

In a relevant fact sent to the CNMV, the Socimi also announced that it ended the year with assets worth €11.3 billion – distributed across the centres of Paris, Barcelona and Madrid – up by 22%, following the integration of Axiare onto its balance sheet. Excluding the effect of that integration, the increase would have amounted to 8% (…).

“Following an excellent year, we are confident of achieving a very satisfactory performance in the market and of generating rental income of €500 million over the next three or four years”, explained the CEO of Colonial, Pere Viñolas, who added that the company’s recurring profit, after excluding extraordinary items and asset revaluations, amounted to €101 million and represented an increase of 22%.

In operational terms, last year, Colonial signed 103 rental contracts, spanning a total surface area of 175,000 m2, which will generate rental income of €43 million p.a. (…).

In financial terms, at the end of 2018, Colonial recorded net debt of €4.7 billion at the end of 2018, up by 52% with respect to 2017 (€3.1 billion) before the purchase of Axiare. That liability accounts for 39% of the firm’s asset value (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by E.S.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Retail Socimi Única’s Profit Soared by 42% in 2018

26 February 2019 – Eje Prime

Única Real Estate is on a roll. The Socimi, which specialises in retail premises, has presented its results for 2018, revealing 42% higher earnings than a year earlier. Specifically, the company recorded a profit of €495,498, compared to €348,060 in 2017.

In parallel, Única generated revenues of €19.7 million, which translates into growth of 49% compared to its turnover a year earlier. The company’s operating result amounted to €858,105 in 2018, up by 45.6% compared to a year earlier.

The Socimi also reported that its real estate portfolio ended the year with a market value of €44.8 million, according to a valuation carried out by Savills Consultores Inmobiliarios. In total, Única has 36 commercial premises, spanning 8,655 m2 (…).

Looking ahead, Única’s forecasts involve executing the corporate operation in which it has been immersed since the end of 2018, and which involves the purchase of 100% of the company’s shares by Vitruvio Real Estate Socimi (…).

Única completed its stock market debut in 2018, and started trading on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) on 27 June. The Socimi ended the year with a market capitalisation of €30.5 million and a share price of €26.60, up by 1.6% compared to its debut.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Amenabar Grows by 15% After Handing Over 815 Homes in 2018

22 February 2019 – Expansión

The property developer Amenabar ended 2018 by fulfilling its ambitious strategic plan, which led it to sign the deeds for 815 homes over the last 12 months. “It has been a very positive year in every aspect; we have fulfilled the objectives of our strategic plan in terms of revenues, thanks to a very intense rate of (home) deliveries, with 11 new developments and the commercial launch of another 21 new projects”, explain sources at the company.

Those figures allowed Amenabar to increase its revenues by 15% over the last year, to €345 million, numbers that the real estate company expects to increase again thanks to the 5,699 homes that it currently has under construction (…).

“We have started 2019 with the goal of marketing 2,403 new homes during the first half of the year and we are working on the residential development of more than 5,507 homes in our portfolio”.

Besides launching new projects, Amenabar is going to continue increasing its delivery rate. “This year, we will hand over 1,245 homes, followed by more than 1,500 in 2020 and more than 1,600 in 2021”. In parallel, it is going to continue buying up land using the profits it earns (…).

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Revised Legislation: Socimis to Pay Tax of 15% on Retained Profits

11 January 2019 – Expansión

The General State Budgets for 2019, which are going to be approved by the Council of Ministers today (Friday) and which are going to be presented to the Congress on Monday, will include a tax charge on the undistributed profits of Socimis, to which a tax rate of 15% will be applied, according to reports made by sources speaking to this newspaper. The measure was agreed between Podemos and the Tax Authorities although the Government did not include it in the Budget Plan that it sent to Brussels in October or in the draft bills that are already being processed. The General Secretary of Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, blames the Socimis for the “rental bubble”.

This measure follows other initiatives agreed with Podemos, which cause the greatest impact of the increase in taxes set out in the budgets to fall on companies: they include a tax of 5% on overseas dividends and the imposition of a minimum taxable base of 15% in terms of Corporation Tax, which will be added to the draft bills to create the Google tax and the Tobin tax.

Socimis (Listed Public Companies for Investing in the Real Estate Market) were created by Zapatero’s Government in 2009 to revitalise the real estate market. They enjoy a very beneficial tax regime. The rate of Corporation Tax applicable to them is zero, provided they fulfil a series of requirements: their minimum capital stock is €5 million, which may be invested in a single property; a minimum of 80% of the profits obtained from rental must be distributed in the form of dividends; and a minimum of 80% of the value of the assets in urban buildings must be leased for three years. For the rents received from other types of activities, the Socimis have to pay tax at a rate of 25%.

From now on, a tax rate of 15% will have to be paid on all of the profits not distributed by these types of entities.

“We need to discourage the promotion of these types of companies that promote the bubble model, undermine the public coffers and represent a grievance for competition. We consider that the special regime afforded to the Socimis, whose main feature involves a tax rate of 0% for Corporation Tax, needs to be reversed”, said Podemos in a recent document. It regards it as “necessary to reverse Government policy, based on forcing tax regulation to create a tax haven for companies that promote a new housing bubble”.

Original story: Expansión (by Mercedes Serraller)

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Grifols Family Joins Forces with Corp Promotor to Create the Largest Rental Home Group

8 January 2019 – El Confidencial

After two small ventures in the sector, the Grifols family is entering the real estate sector in a big way. And it is doing so to create the largest rental home developer in Spain. Through the company Scranton, which is controlled by the Grifols family and a group of former directors from the pharmaceutical company, they are joining forces with the Catalan property developer Corp Promotors to constitute a group that is going to build 2,500 rental homes in the Barcelona area over three years, according to sources in the real estate sector familiar with the group’s plans, which are expected to involve an investment of €230 million in total.

This corporate alliance is being carried out by the company Scranton and does not involve the Grifols as a company, which has been left out of the operation. But the success of Grifols has been impacting its shareholders for a long time now. The Dutch firm Scranton, owner of 8.67% of Grifols, is mobilising investments in other sectors using the profits obtained by the company that bears the family name.

Spokespeople from Corp declined to comment on the matter. But other financial sources familiar with the project explain that Scranton and Corp are going to create a joint venture company, in which Scranton will hold 66% and Corp will own 34%. Corp will provide land, including assets such as plots on Rambla Guipúzcoa, Bonaplata and Can Batlló II, next to Gran Vía, all in the Catalan capital. And the Grifols will provide the funds to build on that land. Sources in the real estate sector indicate that half of those 2,500 homes will be constructed in the city of Barcelona and the remainder will be built in nearby cities such as on the Torreblanca plots in Sant Just Desvern and in towns such as L’Hospitalet, Badalona and Terrassa, for example.

Corp Promotors was created by two partners who left a nightclub business in Mataró to enter the real estate sector a decade ago, at the height of the real estate crisis, when almost all of the property developers in Barcelona had abandoned their activity after running out of bank credit. Those two partners are Pedro Molina Porras and Pau Castro Sáez. According to the consolidated accounts of the group deposited at the Mercantile Registry, Corp Promotors recorded revenues of €99.8 million in 2017 and profits of more than €7 million. The book value of the group’s plots are worth €209 million but not all of them will be involved in the operation with the Grifols.

The Grifols and its partners have detected a housing emergency in Barcelona, with an alarming lack of developments and they have entered the market in search of profitability at a time when investors have surplus funds, but there are insufficient assets (…).

New player

Through its alliance with Corp, the Grifols are aspiring to become one of the major players in the Spanish real estate sector. According to the business plan prepared by the partners, once the new company is operating at full capacity, in three years time, it could be worth €1 billion and with rental assets that will convert it into a kind of high yield bond for investors.

That will be possible because Corp is one of the largest owners of land at the moment in the Barcelona area. But with so many projects underway, the group is very indebted. Its accounts reflected debts of €142 million at the end of 2017, twice the figure of a year earlier. Corp’s shareholders have been trying to sell the property developer, in whole or in part, for a year, according to sources in the real estate sector. Now, with the new partner, they can forget those plans and enter another phase of their corporate life (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by Marcos Lamelas)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Founder of Pachá Acquires 3% of Renta Corporación’s Share Capital

17 December 2018 – Eje Prime

Renta Corporación has opened up its share capital to a new investor. The businessman Ricardo Urgell (pictured below), founder of the Pachá Group, has acquired 3% of the company through his family office. Specifically, Urgell has entered the share capital of the real estate company after making several purchases in the market and after acquiring a package of shares that had been held by the President of Renta, Luis Hernández de Cabanyes, until now.

Meanwhile, Cabanyes will continue to hold 21.53% of the shares of Renta Corporación, making him the largest shareholder. This latest operation follows other similar deals through which Cabanyes has wanted to facilitate access to the share capital of the real estate company to several investor groups. Now, following the acquisition by Urgell, the President “considers this stage closed and is not proposing any more shareholder movements”, the company said in a statement.

Renta Corporación closed the third quarter with a profit of €11.7 million and is planning to achieve €16 million in 2018 as a whole. The company has acquired more than 2,000 homes over the last 18 months, with a cumulative investment of €450 million. In parallel, the evolution of Vivenio, the Socimi created together with the Dutch pension fund APG, has consolidated its position as a source of recurrent income for the group.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

GMP Signs Spain’s First “Green” Loan with BBVA: €68M for Castellana 77

9 December 2018 – Eje Prime

The Spanish real estate sector has obtained its first green loan. Specifically, the Socimi GMP, controlled by the Montoro family, has signed a loan of that type with BBVA to finance the project to renovate Castellana 77, an office building in the Azca area. In total, the real estate company has received €68 million.

Specifically, the Socimi acquired the building from BBVA in 2015. GMP has recently completed work to renovate the property. The company’s commitment to obtain the loan has been established around the fact that the money will be used to promote sustainability, according to Expansión.

GMP, which has the Singapore sovereign fund (GIC) amongst its reference shareholders, has been working for a while to create a portfolio of sustainable buildings. 80% of its assets have the Leed stamp and, last June, one of the jewels in its crown, the former Torre BBVA, obtained the Well Oro certificate, becoming the first property in Spain to merit that distinction.

During the first half of 2018, the Socimi saw its profits soar by 81% to exceed €110 million. The company recorded revenues of €49.5 million between January and June, down by 0.8% compared to the same period in 2017.

Currently, GMP has a portfolio of sixteen assets, which sum a total of twenty-seven buildings and a gross leasable area (GLA) of 360,000 m2. All of them are located in Madrid, along with the 65,105 m2 of buildable space that the group owns, concentrated in the urban developments of Valdebebas and Las Tablas. The company’s portfolio of projects also includes a residential tourist development in Alicante, which is called Las Colinas Golf&Country Club.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake