Kojamo Oyj

OMXH:KOJAMO

Earnings Call Transcript 2020-Q1

[Maija Hongas, Manager of Investor Relations]

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Kojamo's Q1 results audiocast. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we are not hosting this time a news conference at Kojamo's head office, but instead, we are happy to present our results with this audiocast. Today, presenters are CEO, Jani Nieminen; and CFO, Erik Hjelt. After the presentation, we have some time for questions. We start with the questions from the conference call line. And after that, it is also possible to ask questions with the chat function in the audiocast, and we will be taking those after the conference call line questions.But without further delay, let's get started. Please, Jani, you can start.

[Jani Nieminen, Chief Executive Officer]

Okay. Good morning, everybody. Jani Nieminen here. Today, we are providing information in bit different circumstances. And I'm sitting alone here in my office room having a headset. It will be so much nicer to present our Q1 in front of real people.But anyway, our strong Q1 is reflected to all our key figures. We've been able to continue profitable growth, and our pipeline for new building projects is really strong. During this COVID-19 pandemic, all our essential operations are still ongoing and our strong capability to provide digitalized services has made it possible for us to serve our clients and keep on renting our apartments. We are well in line with our strategy, and we have specified the outlook for -- in 2020. I was just checking out whether I have the authority to change the slides. Of course.So let's move forward and see what's been going on. So I would like to start with providing some information about the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. And as I said, all operations here are ongoing. We made a smooth transition to remote working. Actually, our people started working from home offices the 16th of March. We are able to provide services. For example, call center is operated from home offices. We are providing a lot of information and access to customer questions. With My Lumo services, we are able to keep on renting our apartments with our web store. We have used, I guess, a bit even more technology in order to rent the apartments and help our customers, examples like using video streams in order to check out the apartments and to create a marketing video. And if we look at the customer side, so far there has been no increasing needs for rent payment arrangement. And it seems that also April and May rents are paid in normal manner. But of course, we have made it possible, if needed in the future, to create some payment arrangements if needed.In order to keep our people and our customers safe and sound, we restricted the common spaces use and postponed nonurgent maintenance and refurbishes to inhabited apartments. Of course, we try to proceed with the repairs outside these apartments in a normal manner. But in order to help this pandemic situation, there are no saunas at the moment, for example, for tenants, and we increased some cleaning in elevators and lobbies.On construction side, the construction of new apartments and our development projects continues normally for now. And financially, we are able to continue our operative actions and growth in a normal manner.If we then move forward, what's been going on during Q1. I would say that to start with, urbanization is still the important megatrend and creates demand for new apartments, and that is expected to continue, and the significance of largest growth centers will increase. The pandemic will dampen economic activity, and Finland's GDP is estimated to decrease. There is exceptional uncertainty in estimating future development of [ economic ] development, and we provided some scenarios provided by authorities at the moment. But I would say that, typically, downturn in economy and decreasing consumer confidence has had an impact to housing trade. So homebuyers buying own occupied homes and that has created typically more demand towards rental apartments, and we estimate that long-term demand for rental apartments continues and may even grow a bit.The number of new building permits was reducing already before COVID-19 pandemic and residential start-ups are estimated to contract by several thousand units until 2021. It seems that construction companies are postponing projects as homebuyers are more careful. And on the other hand, it seems that construction companies are having a bit harder times with financing their projects. The increase of construction costs has leveled off, and I estimate that the new situation will provide a situation where construction companies are providing more projects for us. At the moment, it's really difficult to estimate the development of prices of dwelling, so what's going to be happening with the housing market and people buying their homes. But I would say that estimates concerning rents seem still valid. In the longer term, urbanization keeps the demand high for rental apartments, especially, of course, Helsinki region as the biggest growth centers plays an important role. The number of households living in rental apartments has been increasing in all the big cities, and we estimate that, that trend will continue. Of course, now I would say it's a combination of even more things providing an impact. On the other hand, we already seen that people are increasingly attracted by the freedom provided by the rental housing. And on the other hand, the development of household sizes, so I mean the number of households of 1 and 2 person is typically creating a lot of demand for rental homes. And now during the current pandemic, it's estimated that housing trade will slow down and even further increase the popularity of rental apartments.We've been focused our operations in the 7 biggest growth centers here in Finland. And at the moment, we have 73.1% of our assets located in Helsinki region. And if we combine the 3 biggest growth areas, so Helsinki region, Tampere region and Turku region, it's today 87.5% of our housing assets located in these 3 regions together. The final occupancy rate 96.9% during Q1 was actually the same as last year during Q1. So there's typically some chasing throughout the year. And then if we look at the key figures, I would say that we've been able to keep on providing profitable growth. The revenue grew with 4.6%, and our like-for-like growth was 2.9%. Last year, Q1 like-for-like growth was 2.6%, so a really strong like-for-like growth. We were able to increase our net rental income by 10.2%. And there, it's important to note is that even though the number of apartment has been growing, our maintenance expenses were actually EUR 0.8 million lower than last year. Funds from operations, EUR 29.4 million. There was an increase of 11.8%. And of course, the strong net rental income growth provided a solid FFO growth as well. Today, the fair value of investment properties is EUR 6.4 billion, and gross investments, EUR 62.1 million is mainly develop -- new development projects. So amount of new development projects there is EUR 58.5 million, and the rest is basically modernization investments. The strong operative result, EUR 29.7 million is 4.1% higher than last year. And profit before taxes includes a net gain in fair values of EUR 22 million compared to last year's EUR 10.4 million. So I would say, a really solid and strong beginning for this year.We have a really strong pipeline for new development projects. And at the end of Q1, 1,651 apartments under construction, all located here in Helsinki region. And we started construction of 454 apartments and made an agreement with SRV providing another 676 apartments in Helsinki region. And actually, if we compare the number of apartments under the construction at the end of Q1, all those projects are located in Helsinki region as last year of 1,280 apartments. Of that, in Helsinki region was located 1,010 apartments. And it's good to keep in mind that in order to grow, we are able to combine different sources like building new apartments, converting buildings into residential use and by buying existing apartments.In addition to projects under construction, we have existing agreements, providing an additional 1,305 apartments here in Helsinki region, and we signed an agreement with SRV in March, including the highest rental tower building to be constructed in Finland. And actually, the construction work has been started during April, and the tower will be named Lumo 1. The zoning process of Metropolia development project is currently ongoing and expected to be completed in 2020. We estimate that the Metropolia case will provide another 1,000 apartments here in Helsinki city center area.And if we look at our projects under construction and on the other hand, binding pre-agreements, all the projects in our strong pipeline are located nicely along the public transportation, and Metropolia case will provide 1,000 new apartments in the city center Helsinki. And of course, I love talking about how we create services and combine technology. And as we believe in providing added value for our customers, we will continue creating new services and concepts for our customers. We've been already successful in combining technology and services. But for the future, we are actually, at the moment, developing Kojamo's next digital road map. And of course, there are several aspects in order to create digital road map. To mention some, of course, one would be customer experience and certification, then scalability and employee experience, digitalization of properties and services, AI and knowledge management and enabling technology and IT architecture. And at this point, I would transfer to our CFO, Erik Hjelt.

[Erik Hjelt, CFO & Deputy CEO]

Well, thank you, Jani, and good morning, everyone, from my side as well. So Page 15, the total revenue growth was EUR 4.2 million and like-for-like growth was 2.9%, and that contributed EUR 2.6 million for the top line growth. We are gradually moving towards separate water charges that contributes quite nicely to the like-for-like top line growth as well, and we expect the like-for-like growth to be between 2.1% and 2.5% going forward.Completed apartments contributed EUR 1.6 million for the top line growth. We completed 119 apartments during the Q1 this year. But of course, the completions last year after Q1 '19, 755 contributed as well, but then we sold 520 apartments last year. So the net figure contributes for top line growth. Profit before taxes includes the profit for change in fair value investment properties, EUR 22 million. 2/3 of that is coming through the ending restrictions, and 1/3 is coming mainly through the fact that we updated cash flows in the calculation. And we kept yield requirements unchanged when we made these valuations at the end of Q1.The profit, excluding change in fair value investment properties grew [ EUR 1.25 million ], so net rental income contributed EUR 5.2 million, SGA expenses was EUR 0.9 million higher than in corresponding period, mainly through the marketing activities. So we had a lot of activities during Q1, and that will, of course, balance going forward this year.Financial expenses was EUR 3.2 million higher than in corresponding period. Most of that difference come through the change in valuation. So no -- mainly no cash flow generating items there. And at Page 17 (sic) [ Page 16 ], net rental income. Net rental income margin was 58.9%, but it's good to note that the full year property taxes was booked according to current requirements in Q1, EUR 11.6 million. And if we calculate that as allocated for different quarters, so that have EUR 8.7 million of other quarters part of the property taxes is roughly 9% of NOI margin. So maintenance expenses was down by EUR 0.8 million, and there are several items behind that. One is one that was increased property taxes. So the increase there was EUR 0.6 million. [ Nevertheless ] EUR 8 million, but then again, we get savings when it comes to the heating and taking [indiscernible] one place to another. So thanks to mild winter, we got EUR 1.4 million change in heatings and EUR 0.7 million savings regarding the snow work if you like.FFO growth was 11.8%, EUR 3.1 million. So net rental income EUR 5.2 million contributed the biggest part of the growth. SG&A expenses was EUR 0.9 million negative, and cash taxes was EUR 1 million higher than in corresponding period given the higher result compared to corresponding period.Page 17, occupancy rate on the same level as in corresponding period. And Page 18. So EUR 62.1 million gross investments, roughly EUR 60 million through development investments and EUR 1.5 million through modernization investments. Modernization investments and repairs were slightly down, both EUR 0.2 million repairs and EUR 1.1 million modernization investments. We make all the necessary works when it comes to entering apartments given the COVID-19 epidemic and then that of course plays a role there why we got some savings there. Going forward, we expect the modernization investments and repairs together be between EUR 60 million and EUR 70 million. Page 19, fair value investment properties grew by EUR 83.4 million. So developments contributed EUR 62.1 million; change in fair value, EUR 22 million. And we did dispose couple of apartments. Disposals was EUR 1.5 million. At the end of Q1, we still had 2,876 apartments where we still have restrictions regarding valuation, and those restrictions will end gradually by the end of 2024. And the impact of these ending restrictions is estimated to be somewhere between EUR 230 million and EUR 240 million. 25% of that will crystallize this year, 30% in 2024, and the remaining part will be split evenly between the other years. Page 20, the left-hand side column shows ongoing development activities, apartments under construction, 1,651 apartments, EUR 205 million already invested and almost EUR 200 million to be invested to complete these ongoing development projects. The mid-column shows these binding agreements, mainly agreements made between Kojamo and SRV and Hausia providing 1,305 apartments and EUR 331 million to be invested there.And the right-hand column shows our land bank, if you like. So pure land approach and with the existing residential buildings, where the idea is to demolish them and build a new one there, and then this convergence, mainly Metropolia case. We expect the total amount of development investments this year to be between EUR 300 million and EUR 360 million. EUR 300 million is pretty much what we already invested and what it takes to complete ongoing development activities. And then EUR 360 million requires couple of new projects to be started this year and 99% of the land bank is located in Helsinki region.Page 21, we have some nice pictures of projects under construction. They are all in Helsinki region, quite nice buildings. Actually, we are thrilled to be able to finalize and get them into the market. Page 22. Equity ratio and loan-to-value figures, very strong, very, very nice buffer against our target levels. And so target of equity ratio is 40% to be above that and LTV be below 50%.Page 23. So EPRA NAV per share improved nicely as well as equity per share. And, of course, if you compare the figure to the year-end, it's good to note that, at the end of Q1 this year, the dividend was already out of this calculation. So that, of course, plays a role there. Page 25 (sic) [ Page 24 ], financing. We have a versatile capital structure, half of the financing coming from the bond market; other half mainly from the Nordic banks and commercial paper program as well. Strong financial key figures, average interest rate, including the cost of net interest, 1.8, and the average interest -- the fixed interest period and average loan maturity just below 5 years. And no major refinancing needs in couple of next coming years. This EUR 309 million maturing this year covers outstanding policy papers as well as EUR 100 million bond that will be maturing later this month, but we have the cash to pay that. So that is nicely covered already.Page 25. At the end of Q1, we had cash and cash equivalents of almost EUR 240 million and liquid financial assets, about EUR 70 million. And we had EUR 300 million committed unused credit lines in place. So the cash situation of the company is in a good level. We made some agreements during the period and after the period, so we agreed with EUR 75 million 5.5-year loan with OP Corporate Bank. We made a EUR 50 million agreement with Danske Bank, and we signed a loan agreement with European Investment Bank of EUR 34 million. So even the market has been quite challenging, but we've been able to make all financing agreements we wanted to make.And then we increased the issuance of commercial paper to be on the safe side if you like. So we wanted to increase the cash amount of the company when this COVID-19 kicked in. And the normal level, if you like, is close to EUR 50 million. And we put an EMTN program in place, EUR 2.5 billion, and that covers the financial needs for the whole strategy period and on top of that, refinancing of the 2 outstanding Eurobonds that will mature in 2024, 2025.Page 26 strategic targets, they are now unchanged. So these were released in our -- when we released our annual account. One note there is the FFO, the total revenue at the end of Q1 was below this level. But there, we include the whole year's property taxes. So if we allocate that for the whole year, we are -- at the end of Q1, we were nicely above this target level, what comes to FFO against total revenue as well. Page 28. Our outlook for this year is slightly specified. So we kept the outlook for top line to be between -- unchanged to be between 2% and 6%, and we specified our FFO guidance to EUR 146 million to EUR 158 million. The previous one was EUR 142 million to EUR 156 million. So this specific -- actually, the background for this is that we had a quite strong Q1. And we expect that the operations of the company going forward to be on quite close to normal levels. And we expect that the weather later this year to be on a normal level. And of course, we include the apartments to be completed later this year.And now I will hand it back to Jani.

[Jani Nieminen, Chief Executive Officer]

All right. There are some effects, and I would say, to wrap it up, we think that we are nicely able to continue our operations and growth despite of COVID-19 pandemic. So digitalization and our capability to provide services from remote offices, strong customer behavior, we haven't seen any big changes there. The demand will remain strong, and we will keep on continuing investing according to our strategy. A slight risk there is COVID virus will have an impact on construction sites. There might be some small delays. But at the moment, we don't see any of that happening. And financially, we are in a strong position, are able to keep on investing.The dividend policy is still the same as the payment strategy, is to pay at least 60% of FFO provided that the equity ratio is 40% or more, taking account the company's financial position, which is at the moment strong. And to summarize, I would say that the year began strongly and actually according to our expectations. The like-for-like growth of 2.9% was really strong. And we were able to strengthen the pipeline for new development projects, new building projects, and we are in a good position in order to continue our operations and growth despite of COVID-19 pandemic. And at this point, I will forward to Maija, and we'll start with Q&A. Do we have Maija online?

[Maija Hongas, Manager of Investor Relations]

Yes. Apparently, it seems that my microphone was not working, but now it is. So thank you very much. Let's continue with the questions. And we will first be taking questions from the conference call line. So please, operator, we are ready for the questions.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] So question #1 from Anssi Kiviniemi from SEB.

[Anssi Kiviniemi, Analyst]

It's Anssi from SEB. I have 3 questions, so I will take them 1 by 1 if that's okay. First of all, what is your approach to rental increases in this market? We have seen many announcements on concessions for tenants in their rental payments. So how do you approach this? And was it that you highlighted previously in the call that you expect like-for-like rental growth to be above 2.5% in the near future? Or did I misunderstood something?

[Jani Nieminen, Chief Executive Officer]

Jani here. I guess I will take this one. As I said, our customers have been paying the rents in a normal manner. And I said that we do believe that the rent development will still be as estimated prior, so increases in the market slightly below 2 persons here in capital region. And on the other hand, we do believe that we are able to increase the rents this year as planned. So I would say the rent increase and like-for-like growth, we -- as Erik mentioned, we've been collecting more charges concerning water consumption, and that creates like-for-like growth as well. So I would say 2.9% is a really strong number. But in the longer run, I would say, of course, at the end of the day, all the customers will be already paying the separate water charges. So the like-for-like growth most probably will be between 2.1% or 2.2% to 2.5% as estimated before.

[Anssi Kiviniemi, Analyst]

Okay. Then the second question on repair and maintenance expenses. They were low in Q1. Should we expect this trend to continue also in Q2, Q3, Q4? And then again, should we expect some kind of ramp-up of repair expenses and maintenance cost in 2021?

[Jani Nieminen, Chief Executive Officer]

I would say, as Erik provided information, we have avoided to enter apartments with tenancy living inside. And so only urgent needs have been handled. On the other hand, of course, we try to proceed with all the repairs outside the apartments as planned. At this point, we do believe that as Erik provide the information, mainly, we are able to do all the repairs outside the apartments as planned, but of course, we are following the situation all the time, whether there are any delays or needs to postpone some of the projects. So it's a bit early to provide the total information. We have to follow the situation. In a big picture, I don't believe that there will be a significant impact in any case for 2021?

[Anssi Kiviniemi, Analyst]

Okay. Then the last question, it's on the transaction market. We have seen very little of public announcements and transactions happening in the market. But how is the activity, so to speak, behind the scenes. So have you been offered more or less portfolios? Or what's the situation? And what is your ambition, meaning that you have currently pretty strong pipeline in historic terms in your own development going forward. So how do you look at the portfolio acquisitions going forward?

[Jani Nieminen, Chief Executive Officer]

Thank you for the question. And as I mentioned, of course, it's important for us that we are able to grow using multiple sources, so new building projects, converting premises into our apartments and by buying existing portfolios. And we are scanning all the possibilities all times. So I think I provided the information that I do believe that more development projects will be provided for us. So we are scanning probably more projects this year than typically. On the other hand, of course, we are scanning the market all the time in order to buy portfolios. I would say, during the last month, special circumstances, so probably the bigger investors have been following what's really happening in Finland. And we've been having restrictions in order to move around here in Finland. So hard to estimate what will happen throughout this year. But we are scanning, and if we find some portfolio suitable for us, of course, we are able to move fast. But in a big picture, I would estimate that the transaction market will be slower this year.

[Operator]

Our next question is from Svante Krokfors from Nordea.

[Svante Krokfors, Analyst]

I have one left after Anssi's question, and that goes to Erik. Do you want to comment something on the loan availability cost of debt in bank financing and bond financing? How has that developed? I think you have commented a bit on that earlier at least.

[Erik Hjelt, CFO & Deputy CEO]

Bank seems to be quite selective. And in our case, we haven't had any difficulties to get the financing we wanted. And the margins in those transactions being made is clearly below what we have on average in our portfolio. But the bond market has -- it's been really a roller coaster. So at the end of -- at the beginning of this year, in our case, bank estimated that the spread would be somewhere around 100 basis points. And when this COVID-19 started also the estimates were close to 300. And then now, the market is already -- has opened, and it's improving. So we might be somewhere there in between. So there has been quite significant changes. But again, it's good to keep in mind that the interest rates are still on the extremely low levels. So these levels are quite doable for a company like that. But the changes has been quite large, actually, first upwards and then gradually improved.

[Operator]

Our next question is from Jussi Nikkanen from Handelsbanken.

[Jussi Nikkanen, Research Analyst]

I have 3 actually. How do you see the valuation yields to develop in -- during this year or the next year?

[Jani Nieminen, Chief Executive Officer]

At this point, our yields stay the same, and we've received no information that there will be pressure to make changes in yield requirements.

[Jussi Nikkanen, Research Analyst]

Okay. Then kind of 2 questions related basically to your rating. And there's kind of Moody's struggling with -- or I don't know whether it's struggling, but still kind of the excess offer that you're having in the financial target of the LTV below 50% and now when we know what happened last year with the fair value changes, is there some thoughts that you might revise down the LTV target based on the valuation change you made last year?

[Jani Nieminen, Chief Executive Officer]

I think Erik will provide information for this one.

[Erik Hjelt, CFO & Deputy CEO]

Yes. When we made this change in valuation technique at end of last year, Moody's released a comment, and they saw this as a very positive thing, and they didn't change the rating, as they usually don't do in this type of situation, but they clearly wanted to communicate that they saw this as a credit positive. And we didn't change our financial targets. And we still feel that these targets are quite suitable for the large resi company here in Finland. We have quite sizable buffer against these levels currently. So as Jani mentioned, we haven't seen any changes in yield requirements in the market and brokers are not commenting. Actually, they are not, at the moment, forcing any changes there. But the view is, of course, quite short there.And couple of weeks ago, Moody's released a comment regarding Kojamo as well, and then they state that the company is in good shape, that key figures are strong, and they maintained the current rating, BAA, to stable outlook. Of course, later this year, not that far away, we are going to have an annual meeting with Moody's and then discuss through the situation. But we have quite strong KPIs, and we haven't changed them. And given the estimates for long-term demand driven by the urbanization here. So we think that the strategy to grow here is still valid, and our key figures gives a good background for us for that growth. So we have the equity, if you like, already in place for additional growth. And now, we have access for different sources of financing as well.

[Jussi Nikkanen, Research Analyst]

I'm referring to the same report Moody's came out, a key metric that they highly valuate, which is kind of unencumbered assets. They seem to struggle heavily with the understanding the Finnish kind of pledged asset study. Could that be something that you could assist with key metrics with unencumbered assets in the future in order to let them understand better your pledged asset situation?

[Erik Hjelt, CFO & Deputy CEO]

So actually, in our case, we haven't had any difficulties, and we think that Moody's understands very, very well our position. When we applied for the first public rating more than 2 years ago, then we discussed about this portion of unencumbered assets, and it was very clear for us and for Moody's, that the target level is to be above 60%, 6-0 percent of unencumbered assets. And we had a path towards that, and we are already above that level. So it's nontopic in our case anymore.

[Jussi Nikkanen, Research Analyst]

But as they kind of calculate the figure of the pledged assets, it's roughly almost EUR 1 billion above your actually asset pledges when but looking at the outcome in the Moody's report. So somewhat a misunderstanding there could be, I don't know, kind of just looking at the figures. But just -- and not a question as such.

[Erik Hjelt, CFO & Deputy CEO]

As I said, it's not issue for us because Moody's seems to be quite satisfied with our current situation regarding the unencumbered portion of our unencumbered assets.

[Operator]

Our next question is from [ Oliver Brutus ] from Goldman Sachs.

[Unknown Analyst]

I just have a question on the flexibility arrangement that you discussed for tenants as a result of coronavirus. Can you comment a little bit further about what sort of arrangements these are and what kind of uptake you expect from them?

[Jani Nieminen, Chief Executive Officer]

Yes. I think we had a similar question in the chat as well. So I cover the whole topic. As I mentioned prior, we haven't seen any changes there. Actually, the rents have been coming in, in a normal manner. We have prepared ourselves in case that the economic situation is getting worse, and some of the -- our customers as well might get unemployed. And in that case, the tenant might end up in a situation that it will take some weeks or even a couple of months in order to get the decisions concerning subsidies. So we are able to make payment agreements for that period when the customer -- the tenant is waiting for the subsidy decision. But so far, we haven't seen significant pressure there. It's been business as usual.

[Unknown Analyst]

Okay. So that would be, to clarify, when a rent waiver, if a decision was pending on a government subsidy for a tenant that was made unemployed.

[Jani Nieminen, Chief Executive Officer]

Yes. Yes. Of course, there are several subsidies available like unemployment subsidy which the individual is able to get. And then, of course, at the end of the day, we do have a housing allowance system in place here in Finland.

[Operator]

All right. There are no further questions at this time. So please go ahead, speakers.

[Maija Hongas, Manager of Investor Relations]

Okay. Thank you very much. We had one question from the chat, but actually Jani already answered that. So now we have no further questions.Thank you very much for all of you to participating in our audiocast today. Before you go, I would like to remind you that our half year report from January due in 2020 will be published on 20th of August. And also to let you know that we are planning to held our first Capital Markets Day in Helsinki on 29th of September if the circumstances permit. So please save the date. We will provide more information later. But thank you very much. Enjoy the beautiful spring day. And hopefully, we will see you again. Thank you very much.