Wereldhave N.V.

press release H1 results 2018

PRESS RELEASE RESULTS FIRST HALF 2018

JULY 24, 2018

Operations

·        Occupancy increases in all countries

·        Occupancy rate of shopping centres increased to 96.1% (YE 2017: 95.5%)

·        Operations in France stabilised under challenging market conditions

·        Overall like-for-like rental growth at -1.3% (index 1.3%).

·        Increase in footfall of 0.6% from 73.5m to 73.9m shopping centre visitors

·        Footfall increase 2.2% above market average

Over the first quarter, occupancy remained flat. In the second quarter leasing gained momentum, with a strong increase in occupancy across the board, bringing the overall number from 95.5% at year-end 2017 to 96.1% at the end of June 2018.

THE NETHERLANDS

In the Netherlands, occupancy stood at 96.8% at the end of the second quarter (YE 2017: 96.5%). Leasing activity remained high, with 146 leases signed during the first half of the year. Important new leases that were signed during the second quarter are with S. Oliver and Comma at Nieuwegein, Action at Kronenburg in Arnhem, Levi's and Pandora for Tilburg and package deals with Casa, terStal and The Stone. Rent levels are generally at or above ERV. Like-for-like rental growth amounted to 1.0% which is 0.3% below the indexation.

In spite of ongoing development works in Capelle aan den IJssel and Presikhaaf in Arnhem, footfall in Wereldhave's centres outperformed the market average. Compared to 2017, footfall decreased by 1.5%, whereas the national footfall index saw a 1.9% decline. People may come less often, but stay longer. The average dwelltime in our Dutch centres during the first half of 2018 increased by 9.6%.

BELGIUM

In Belgium, occupancy of the shopping centres increased strongly during the first half of the year, from 94.9% at year-end 2017 to 96.7% at June 30, 2018. The occupancy of the Belgian offices remained stable and stood at 90.6% at June 30, 2018. 

During the second quarter, transactions for large units were signed with anchor tenants as Decathlon, NewYorker, Action and Medi-Market. Particularly in Kortrijk, good leasing progress was made. In one year's time, occupancy in Kortrijk rose from 88% to 95%. Footfall in Kortrijk went up by 4.1% in 2017 and 5.3% in 2018. In Genk occupancy also improved, as leases were signed with JDSports, Action and Only. In Nivelles, Decathlon became an important new anchor to the centre, bringing occupancy back to the 100% level.