Kmc Properties ASA

OSE:KMCP

Earnings Call Transcript 2022-Q3

[Liv Malvik, executive]

Welcome to KMC Properties' third quarter presentation.

My name is Liv Malvik, and I am the CEO of the company.

Together with me today, I have our CFO, Kristoffer Holmen.

In KMC Properties, we have a long-term vision of becoming the preferred partner for logistics and industrial properties. And in the third quarter, we continued to develop towards that goal by nurturing relations with existing customers and extending our portfolio with 3 new properties. Subsequent to the quarter, our largest client, BEWI, announced that the final approvals from all relevant competition authorities have been received and that BEWI is proceeding towards completion of the acquisition of Jackon Holding AS. This transaction will in turn unlock our agreement with BEWI for the acquisition of up to 24 properties and 1 land plot with a gross asset value of up to NOK 2 billion and a NOK 350 million fully underwritten contemplated private placement to fund the first part of the transaction amounting approximately NOK 950 million.

At the end of the third quarter, KMC Properties had a total of 49 properties, excluding our discontinued property held for sale in Russia. We have accepted a bid valuing the property at USD 9 million, and we expect to close the transaction by the end of the year. Our geographical footprint is, as you can see on this map, mainly in the Nordics, but we are also hosting our largest tenant BEWI in 4 properties in the Netherlands. Our 49 properties were valued at NOK 4.4 billion by the end of Q3, equivalent to approximately NOK 10,300 per square meter.

The net yield of these properties is 6.5%, with a remaining WAULT of 9.8 years. We have a group level loan-to-value of 51.2%, which gives us the financial flexibility to continue our expansion.

If you look at the assets we own. They have some common qualities, which gives us a clear advantage. Our properties have a very strategic location for our tenants either because of nearby important customers for our tenants or nearby important resources for our tenants or because the properties are situated in industrial or logistic hubs important for our tenants. Our tenants are companies with strong financial profiles very well positioned within the value chain of a variety of established sectors.

We enter into long lease agreements and triple net bare house contracts with our tenants, and we see that our tenants on their side make large investments in production equipment in the facilities. This infrastructure stickiness to the property for our tenants increase the probability of lease extension.

In this picture, you can see 6 of our beautiful properties. From the upper left, you have Grøntvedt, founded in 1830 and situated at a coast in the middle of Norway. And then you have Insula's flagship on Leknes in the North of Norway, both facilities where the closeness to important natural resources is critical for our tenants. Then we have BEWI's new EPS box -- fish box production facility located next to SalMar's new slaughterhouse facility in the North of Norway; and BEWI's automotive and component facility located in Skara in Sweden, near Volvo's very large production facility. They are both very good examples of location near important customers for our tenants. And then we have the brand-new PSW facility located in the industrial hub at Mongstad in Norway; and our new property, KpK doors and windows, located in an industrial hub in Nykøbing Mors in Denmark.

We have grown our portfolio to a total value of NOK 4.4 billion at Q3 2022 compared to NOK 3.7 billion 1 year ago. Our goal is to grow value accretive to a total value of NOK 8 billion by the end of 2024, a year ahead of our original goal when we started out this year. We focus on future growth through acquisitions, greenfield developments and investments in current portfolio; and we seek to minimize interest expenses, providing a solid return on equity. With our current tenant base of solid tenants with long track records and industry exposure, we believe that we are well positioned to navigate in the existing high inflation environment. We have established a solid risk-mitigating framework with currency and interest rate swaps and long lease triple net bare house contracts with very solid CPI adjustments.

Let us go through some of the key operational events from the third quarter. In Q3, we closed 3 transactions: 2 with subsidiaries of Inwido, Europe's largest window manufacturer, to a total value of DKK 151 million. These 2 properties have a gross yield of 7.9%, with an initial lease of approximately 10 years. The transaction gives us exposure to an attractive industry and a solid new counterpart, increasing both our industry and geographical diversification. In addition, we closed a NOK 52 million transaction in Ålesund in Norway with Cflow Fish Handling as a new tenant. Cflow is a provider of solutions and services for fish handling to well boats, fishing vessels, delousing and other related services, industries we know well through our existing tenants.

Adding to this, we are closing in on the previously mentioned transformative acquisition with BEWI, which includes up to 24 industrial facilities and 1 land plot, to a total value of approximately NOK 2 billion at a gross yield of 6.3% and a WAULT of 16.6 years compared to 10 years in the existing portfolio. This transaction has the potential to increase our portfolio value 45% to approximately NOK 6.4 billion. The increased size and diversification holds a potential for lower interest margins upon refinancing of [ debt ] in our group. The 45% increase in value comes at a low additional recurring operational expenses to KMC Properties; and will, upon completion, be highly EBITDA accretive.

We will finance the first part of the transaction including the Norwegian and the Swedish properties by a combination of new equity and new committed bank loans. Further, the company has an exclusive right to acquire the remaining part of the portfolio valued at approximately NOK 1 billion within June 2023.

KMC Properties currently have 4 greenfield projects going on with new and existing clients, whereas the production facility for Oppdal Spekemat in the middle of Norway is completed as we speak. The total investment in Oppdal is approximately NOK 85 million with a yield on cost of 7.5%. And we are happy to confirm that our 3 other ongoing greenfield projects are progressing as planned.

Also in the third quarter, we continued to invest and renew our existing properties, maintaining a close relation to our tenants. This work is important to us, as we have a very long perspective when entering into contract with solid counterparties. In the third quarter, we invested NOK 5.5 million in upgrade projects to meet tenants' needs.

We continuously work to increase and extend our annual contractual rent. If we look at the development since the start of the year: We have added a substantial contribution to our annual contractual rent through acquisitions, greenfield investments and CapEx investments. In the figure, you can see these additions in the light gray area.

Our CFO, Kristoffer Holmen, will now first take you through some more details of our accretive opportunities and, afterwards, our financials.

[Kristoffer Holmen, executive]

Many thanks, Liv.

Let's look at the pipeline at the end of September 2022. Through our CapEx projects, we are delivering on our commitment to support our tenants by providing attractive financing. These investments trigger rent adjustments in our contracts; and are highly accretive on our gross yield, although small in value. We are estimating that all projects will be completed by the end of the year. We estimate a strong, accretive growth from the ongoing greenfield projects, but bear in mind greenfield investments are booked in the balance sheet during construction. Hence, these investments are dilutive on overall gross yield during the construction period, so the gross yield will affect -- the gross yield effect will only be visible once the project is completed.

The acquisition pipeline is currently represented by the portfolio transaction with BEWI. Although not accretive on the gross yield, we can take on this portfolio with very low additional recurring OpEx cost due to the triple net bare house contracts. Hence, the transaction becomes highly EBITDA accretive. The gross yield of 6.3% is based on 2022 rent levels. These will be CPI adjusted on the 1st of January 2023 based on the change in local CPI from 1st of April to 31st of October 2022.

So our committed investments are now totaling at approximately NOK 2.9 billion, of which approximately NOK 1 billion will be invested in 2022 -- in Q4 2022. And all else equal, the investments will have a neutral effect on our gross yield and a positive contribution on our WAULT of approximately 3 years.

We continuously work on our capital optimization and have structured our group based on funding sources to utilize these in the best possible way, meaning that all properties financed by the same source is placed in the same structural silo. The initial property portfolio was solely financed by the senior secured bond, but since then, all new investments have been financed by Tier 1 banks, diversifying the funding sources and improving financing terms. Going forward, the refinancing of the senior secured bond is highly prioritized. And we prepare for this by strengthening our relationship with current creditors and by attracting new lenders.

Over to the financials. In the third quarter, we continued to grow our rental income on a fairly flat OpEx base. The growth in rental income is from new investments and CPI adjustments at the beginning of the year. Our EBITDA grew from NOK 44 million to NOK 56 million. And we believe that the current OpEx base will support most of our growth plan towards 2024.

We had a change in fair value of -- on property portfolio of approximately NOK 17 million, but adjusted for plus NOK 19 million in nonrecurring IFRS 16 adjustments this quarter, the change in fair value is [ down approximately to NOK 2 million ].

Net financials amounted to plus NOK 8 million due to income from currency exchange differences and increased value on our swaps. And the realized interest expenses were at -- amounted to NOK 28.7 million in the quarter. Tax expense for the first 9 months in 2022 was NOK 46.8 million, of which NOK 9.4 million was tax payable and the remaining was change in deferred tax.

This left us with a net profit from continued operations of approximately NOK 77 million in Q3 2022.

And if we look at the current contracts 12 months forward, we see increased rental income driven by income from new investments in Q3; low property-related expenses due to our triple net bare house contracts; stable OpEx, a stable OpEx base, with potential for increased operational leverage; a continued growth in EBITDA; but also increased financial expenses due to increased base interest rates.

If we visualize our ability to generate cash flow, we can take a look at the gap between our annualized EBITDA run rate and our interest expenses. And as we can see, we have a comfortable headroom. And we expect new investments, including the acquisitions -- acquisition of the BEWI portfolio, and CPI adjustments to have an accretive effect on EBITDA and interest margins, potentially expanding the gap going forward.

If we look at the current debt structure and maturity profile. We are preparing for refinancing of our NOK 1.85 billion bond maturing at the end of 2023. Currently we have a solid headroom to the bond covenants, and by strengthening our relationships with current creditors and attractive -- attracting new lenders, we believe we will refinance the bond on attractive terms.

We have a strong balance sheet that supports our journey. The portfolio was, as mentioned, valued at NOK 4.4 billion at the end of Q3, up from NOK 4.1 billion in Q2 due to new investments. We had NOK 107 million in cash. And the swap agreements was valued at NOK 178 million. And also, the office building in Moscow which is held for sale is valued at USD 9 million due to the accepted bid that Liv mentioned earlier in the presentation.

Over to you, Liv.

[Liv Malvik, executive]

Thank you, Kristoffer.

Let's move over to the outlook. I believe I'm not surprising anyone by saying that we are facing a changing and more challenging macro environment. We see a sharp rise in consumer pricing. And with inflation hitting a multi-decade high in many countries, the response is to hike interest rates. This will impact us, but we believe that we are well positioned for continued value-accretive growth despite the changing weather.

Our ambition is, as earlier said, to reach NOK 8 billion gross asset value by the end of 2024, and we aim to do so creating value for all our stakeholders. The step change transaction with BEWI is expected to take us half the way, utilizing our current OpEx base and diversifying our business across regions and industries.

Increased size and diversification are key elements when refinancing the current NOK 1.85 billion bond. Beyond that, we will continue accretive activities based on a defined set of criterias based on more than 40 years of industry knowhow.

Thank you for listening in. We will now open up for Q&A.

[Kristoffer Holmen, executive]

Okay, it seems that there's no further questions, so thank you so much.

[Liv Malvik, executive]

Thank you.