conwert Immobilien Invest SE

conwert achieves success in operating business and increases FFO I in first quarter 2016

Business news for the stock market

Vienna (pta007/30.05.2016/08:13) - -
+ FFO I up by 42.6% to EUR 18.2 mn
+ Rental income rises by 2.9% across entire portfolio
+ Total vacancy rate falls by 23.0% to 7.2%
+ FFO I guidance for 2016 increased to EUR 70 mn

conwert Immobilien Invest SE (conwert), listed on the ATX, has further increased profitability in operating business in addition to achieving a significant increase in FFO I for the first quarter of 2016.

In the first quarter of 2016 conwert's revenues underwent a decline against the first quarter of 2015, as expected, by 13.7% from EUR 106.9 mn to EUR 92.3 mn. The decrease is due to lower sales revenue in the first quarter of 2016 as well as the focus on the core assets in the portfolio. This led to a fall in proceeds from the sale of properties in the first quarter of this year of 23.8% to EUR 38.2 mn (1-3/2015: EUR 50.1 mn). However, in the course of streamlining the portfolio, sales worth around EUR 145 mn have already been signed or completed. This means that conwert is right on track to achieve its target of EUR 300 - 350 mn in sales proceeds from portfolio streamlining in 2016.

Despite the reduction in the portfolio by the end of the reporting period of 9.0% to 27,473 rental units (31.3.2015: 30,180 rental units), rental income only slipped back slightly by 4.6% to EUR 52.6 mn (1-3/2015: EUR 55.2 mn) and the net rental result (NRR) declined by just 4.9% to EUR 36.1 mn (1-3/2015: EUR 38.0 mn). As a key indicator of operating efficiency, the NRR margin of 68.7% held steady at the level of the previous year (1-3/2015: 68.9%). The adjusted NRR margin - rental income less running costs charged to tenants - even improved slightly by 1.3% to 88.8% (1-3/2015: 87.7%).

On a like-for-like basis conwert managed to realise an increase in rents of 2.9% across the whole portfolio and of 3.1% in the core portfolio. In the core residential portfolio the average monthly rents in Austria rose from EUR 6.09/sqm/m to EUR 6.28/sqm/m (+3.2%) and in Germany from EUR 5.60/sqm/m to EUR 5.77/sqm/m (+2.9%). The average vacancy rate across the entire portfolio was reduced by a total of 23.0% to 7.2% as of the reporting date (31.03.2015: 9.4%). This was facilitated by the sale of properties with higher vacancy rates as well as the proactive management of portfolio properties.