Q1 2018 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
- Gross margin from rental activity up by 23% to €27m (€22m in Q1 2017)
- FFO I increased 27% to €15m (€12m in Q1 2017), FFO I / share at €0.03
- Profit before tax at €30m (€33m in Q1 2017), earnings per share at €0.05
- In-place rent up 3% to €114m (€110m at 31 December 2017)
- EPRA NAV increased 3% to €1,101m (€1,073m as of 31 December 2017)
- EPRA NAV / share increased 3% to €2.34 (€2.28 as of 31 December 2017)
- Average interest rate down to 2.7% p.a. from 2.8% p.a. as at 31 December 2017
- Interest cover at 4.3x
- Net LTV at 43% vs. 42% as at 31 December 2017
PORTFOLIO HIGHLIGHTS
- Completion of the two buildings in Green Heart project (formerly GTC Square)
- Acquisition of Mall of Sofia and Sofia Tower
- Strong asset management
- Occupancy at 93% (94% as at 31 December 2017)
- 34,000 sq. m of office and retail space newly leased and renewed in Q1 2018
We achieved solid results in the first quarter of this year, improving our gross margin on rental activity by 23% and improving our FFO by 27%. – said Thomas Kurzmann, GTC’s CEO. However, the most important is that we managed to secure further growth, seizing the opportunity in the growing economy in Bulgaria and acquiring Mall of Sofia, which will appreciate value by taking advantage of fast growing customer spending power. This acquisition is another step in reaching our mid to longer term NAV growth target.
During this quarter we benefitted from strong refinancing activity, which helped us to further improved the average interest rate in our portfolio to 2.7%. Based on moderate leverage and a good cash position we are able to reinforce our development activity as well as secure highly accretive asset acquisition. With the acquisition Mall of Sofia we acquired EUR 7.55 million in-place rent with less than EUR 30 million equity, achieving 19% yield on equity invested. This will improve GTC’s profitability through an overall increase in EBIT, while leveraging on existing local management platform and increase our FFO to provide for additional dividend capacity and fund further growth – added Erez Boniel, GTC’s CFO.
