Wereldhave N.V.

press release H1 results 2018 - Seite 2

The announcement by Carrefour to close its hypermarkets in Liège and Genk and the subsequent strikes impacted footfall, particularly in Liège. Carrefour has meanwhile reached agreement with the trade unions, and has requested a partial release of the lease agreements in Liège and Genk. They seek to reduce floorspace and change their profile from hypermarket to supermarket. Negotiations with Carrefour are ongoing and Wereldhave is exploring alternatives for the space that will become available. In Liège, the new lay-out will be reviewed in combination with the expansion plans that have been put on hold. Due to the large success of the new Bastions shopping centre in Tournai that opened on April 12, 2018, footfall of the Belgian shopping centre portfolio still went up by 6.5%.

Like-for-like rental growth of the Belgian shopping centre portfolio was -3.4%, with indexation at 1.5%. The like-for-like rental income decreased by the introduction of free parking in Shopping1, temporary vacancy in Nivelles (now leased to Decathlon) and the departure of a tenant at Stadsplein, Genk.

FRANCE

In France, operational performance is becoming more robust, as occupancy increased for the third quarter in a row. During the second quarter, the increase amounted to 0.2%, bringing the occupancy level to 93.6% at June 30, 2018 (YE 2017: 93.2%). Footfall in the French shopping centres increased by 3.4% while the CNCC footfall index declined by 1.2%. This is mainly driven by the success of Primark opening in Docks Vauban and to new anchor tenants, in particular Action, in Côté Seine. Sales dropped by 3.6%, which is below the market average decrease of -1.6%.

Important leases that were signed during the first half of 2018 are with Marionnaud and Bershka for Docks Vauban, Guess in Rivetoile, Etam in Docks76 and a package deal with Muy Mucho (home interiors). Letting of the Verrerie project in Rouen is at 86% (KFC, Vapiano, Miss Cookies, BChef, Micromania). We are steadily increasing the multi-purpose use of our centres. In Rivetoile, a lease was signed with a dentist centre and in Côté Seine with La Poste.

The like-for-like rental growth in France came out at -3.9%, with indexation at 1.8%. Leases that were signed during the third quarter of 2017 to secure anchor tenants impacted net rental income. NRI for the first half of 2018 amounted to € 20.4m, which is 6.1% below the H1 2017 level. We anticipate an annual decrease of up to 5% of NRI in France for the full year 2018.