Encouraging First Six Months for HIAG Immobilien

Publié: 05. septembre 2016

Media Release

Basel, 5 September 2016 - Looking back, the first six months of 2016 have been encouraging for HIAG Immobilien. Collected property income was up 3.8% to CHF 26.1 million compared to the same period last year (S1 2015: CHF 25.1 million) and earnings per share (prior to value adjustments and taking into account the value effects from promotion projects) rose by 23.4% to CHF 1.95 (30 June 2015: CHF 1.58). At the end of the first six months of 2016, HIAG Immobilien is on course for the intended dividend goal of 4.0% of NAV. In the second half of the year, HIAG Immobilien will expand its business activity to include HIAG Data, an IT infrastructure platform for IT service providers built on the HIAG site network that will set new standards in the Swiss market in terms of speed, reliability, security and scalability.

 

On target after the first six months

 

In the first six months of the 2016 business year, HIAG Immobilien increased collected property income by 3.8% to CHF 26.1 million compared to the first six months of the previous year (S1 2015: CHF 25.1 million) and annualised property income by 0.2% to CHF 51.5 million  (31 December 2015: CHF 51.4 million). At CHF 26.7 million (30 June 2015: CHF 26.2 million), operating income prior to revaluation surpassed that of the previous year by 1.8%. Net income amounted to CHF 21.6 million (CHF 24.2 million) and earnings on an EPRA (European Public Real Estate Association) basis rose by 13.7% to CHF 14.5 million compared to the previous year. Growth in earnings per share (prior to value adjustments and taking into account the value effects from promotion projects) was considerable, increasing by 23.4% to CHF 1.95 (30 June 2015: CHF 1.58). Revaluation amounted to CHF 7.4 million in the first six months of 2016 (30 June 2015: 15.2 million). The average weighted discount rate for the overall portfolio decreased slightly to 4.34% compared to the end of the last six months of the 2015 (31 December 2015: 4.44%). As two objects without strategic significance were sold in the first half of 2016, the overall portfolio was composed of 113 properties as at the end of June and was valued at CHF 1.2 billion as at the reporting date. With an after-tax return of 3.2%, HIAG Immobilien laid a solid foundation in the first six months and is on its target course for the intended dividend payout of 4.0% of NAV.

 

Optimised financing structure

 

At the end of May 2016, HIAG Immobilien Holding AG successfully issued a fixed-rate bond for CHF 115 million with a coupon of 1.00% and a maturity of 7 years. This injection of funds will primarily be used to repay bank financing and enables an extension of the weighted term by about 50% to 3.1 years with a consistently low average interest rate of 1.03% for financial liabilities. On 30 June 2016, the loan-to-value ratio (LTV) was 37.0% (31 December 2015: 36.8%). Following the payout of CHF 28 million in dividends (CHF 3.50 per share entitled to dividends), the equity ratio was slightly above that of the end of the 2015 business year at 54.6% (31 December 2015: 54.4%) or 59.5% (31 December 2015: 59.2%) on an EPRA basis.

 

Stable vacancy rate, successful project sales and new long-term rental contracts

 

At 15.9%, the vacancy rate in the overall portfolio decreased marginally in the first half of the year (31 December 2015: 16.0%). However, we managed to replace non-prolonged temporary rental contracts from the previous year with long-term rental contracts. The net return in the inventory portfolio rose by one percentage point to 5.5% (31 December 2015: 5.4%). In the first six months of 2016, the sales phase was largely completed at the Kunzareal site in Windisch, Aargau with 100% of project Stegbünt and 96% of Project Spinnerei III sold. The high quality positioning of the 29-condominium Project Feinspinnerei, 44% of which has already been sold, underscores the attractiveness of the site on the Reuss river, close to nature. 76% of the 99 condominium apartments at the project The Cloud in Baar, Zug have now been sold. Starting from the second half of 2016, a significant return on investment can be expected from this project. Long-term rental contracts were signed again with our long-standing partners Coop and Doka Schweiz. The rental contracts with Coop at the Aathal site in Zurich and with Doka Schweiz in Niederhasli, Zurich have been contingently signed and are linked to legally valid building permits. As the municipality of Niederhasli is currently examining the possibility of adding floors to a commercial zone to create a denser residential area, the time frame for the project for Doka Schweiz has yet to be determined.

 

Considerable development progress in Biberist, Cham and Meyrin

 

Since the framework building permit has become legally valid for Project Papieri in Biberist, Solothurn, the high-bay warehouse can now be refurbished and the rental contract signed last year with an annualised property income of approximately CHF 1.0 million can take effect starting from the end of 2016. The construction of approx. 8'000 m2 of office space for the EMEA headquarters of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc. is proceeding as planned in Meyrin, Geneva, and the handover of the buildings is expected to take place in the third quarter of 2017. Now that a valuable anchor user for the quarter has been found at the Cham Nord site in Zug with the operator of a private education and training centre for elite athletes, the construction of about 200 apartments can now be tackled. The building permit for the project is targeted for 2017. Building permits for the Walzmühle site and the central building in Frauenfeld, Thurgau have already been issued. In Bremgarten, Aargau, where about 4'900 m2 of new industrial space and 2'500 m2 of office space are being built at the Swiss headquarters of Jeld-Wen, the worldwide leader in the door market, the first phase of development has been completed and the first hall handed over. The handover of the new office building is planned for October 2016. As at the reporting date, the HIAG Immobilien redevelopment portfolio was composed of roughly 50 projects, which comprise approximately 679‘000 m2 of usable area and represent an expected investment volume of about CHF 1.9 billion. Nine of these development projects with a usable area of about 37‘000 m2 and an investment volume of approximately CHF 83 million should be tackled in the next three years.

 

HIAG Group launches HIAG Data

 

Similarly to the provision of residential and commercial space at its sites, the HIAG Group's recent creation of HIAG Data aims to make a physical platform available to IT service providers throughout Switzerland in order to provide them with the best “location” to implement their cloud-based business models using the network of HIAG sites. HIAG Data is a fully owned subsidiary of HIAG Immobilien Holding AG that provides an intelligent IT infrastructure platform. This platform is composed of a carrier-independent fibre optic cable network throughout Switzerland, the anchor sites of Biberist, Menziken and Lugano in addition to IT infrastructure that allows for flexible scaling of computing and storage capacities based on open source technology and Microsoft Azure. The innovative IT infrastructure platform of HIAG Data will set new standards in Switzerland in terms of speed, reliability, security and scalability. HIAG's Executive Board believes that HIAG Data will considerably contribute to the consolidated result starting from the 2017 business year.

 

Future prospects

 

Due to the record-low interest rate environment, the demand for real estate investments remains high, especially from institutional investors. This has significant effects on transaction prices primarily in residential real estate, and thus on the evaluations of independent real estate appraisers. HIAG Immobilien expects that this situation will continue into the second half of 2016 and is keeping its focus on organic growth in the portfolio and a continuous increase in property income. Furthermore, opportunities arising from the currently attractive sales environment are also being pursued for non-strategic objects. Projects that allow for long-term portfolio development are also being examined routinely as part of the implementation of our strategy.

 

Key figures

 

in CHF million (excluding key figures for shares)

S1 2016

S1 2015

Property income

26.1

25.1

Revaluation of investment properties

7.4

15.2

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA)

24.0

30.4

Net income

21.6

24.2

Earnings per share (EPS)

2.70

3.02

Earnings per share without change of value

1.78

1.12

Earnings per share without change of value including change of value of promotion

1.95

1.58

 

 

 

in CHF million (excluding key figures for shares and in percent)

30.06.2016

31.12.2015

Annualised property income

51.5

51.4

Cash and cash equivalents

36.8

52.4

Real estate investments

1'226.7

1'224.1

Shareholders' equity

702.6

708.7

Equity ratio

54.6%

54.4%

LTV ratio

37.0%

36.8%

Balance sheet total

1'285.8

1'303.1

Vacancy rate in %

15.9%

16.0%

NAV per outstanding share before deferred taxes

95.7

96.5

NAV per outstanding share after deferred taxes

87.8

88.6

 

2016 semi-annual report

 

HIAG Immobilien's report and presentation on the first six months of 2016 are available at www.hiag.com.

 

Invitation to the live webcast with conference call

 

Martin Durchschlag (CEO) and Laurent Spindler (CFO) will present the semi-annual report and answer questions during a live webcast with a conference call in German:

 

Date: 5 September 2016
Time: 10:00 am (MEZ)
Live webcast: http://78449.choruscall.com/dataconf/productusers/hiag/mediaframe/15487/indexl.html

 

Dial-in number: 

+41 (0)58 310 50 00 (Europe)

+44 (0)203 059 58 62 (UK)

+1 (1)631 570 5613 (USA)

 

Advance registration is not required. 

 

Webcast replay

 

The replay of the webcast will be available after the presentation via the following link:
http://78449.choruscall.com/dataconf/productusers/hiag/mediaframe/15487/indexl.html

 

Agenda

 

Site visit in Bremgarten

26 October 2016

Publication of the 2016 annual report

20 March 2017

Ordinary General Assembly 2017       

20 April 2017

 

Contact

 

Martin Durchschlag

Chief Executive Officer

T +41 61 606 55 00

martin.durchschlag@hiag.com

Laurent Spindler

Chief Financial Officer

T +41 61 606 55 00

laurent.spindler@hiag.com

 

HIAG Immobilien Holding AG

Aeschenplatz 7

4052 Basel

T +41 61 606 55 00

investor.relations@hiag.com

www.hiag.com