Wihlborgs Fastigheter AB

STO:WIHL

Earnings Call Transcript 2021-Q1

[Operator]

Hello, and welcome to Wihlborgs Fastigheter AB Q1 Report 2021. Today, I'm pleased to present Arvid Liepe, CFO; and Ulrika Hallengren, CEO. [Operator Instructions]I will now hand over to the speakers. Please begin.

[Ulrika Hallengren, Chief Executive Officer]

Thank you. So welcome to this presentation of Wihlborgs' Q1 2021, and we'll start at Page 2 with a short summary. We see that market conditions remain stable. We have positive net letting, the rent levels continue to develop in a positive direction and many industries experienced a good recovery. Although divestments and vacancies affect -- they affect the revenue level. But earnings in relation to debt, they remain strong. And we have a solid balance sheet and liquidity position, which means that we can continue with our project investments, but also ready for other investment possibilities. We continue to focus on development in the portfolio and high earnings capacity. Of course, parts of the business are affected by the pandemic, but we are stronger than ever and ready for new investments. Our team Wihlborgs continues to take every opportunity for dialogue with our customers to capture needs and trends for further change. Stability and grit continue to be important tools in these times. And we continue to page 3 with the summary figures for the quarter. In Q1 2021, our rental income is affected by divestments, as mentioned, but also some currency effects and the income summarized to SEK 738 million, the operating surplus to SEK 509 million and income from property management amounts to SEK 416 million, also affected by higher cost due to snow and heating than 2020. Actually, Q1 2021 was the coldest winter in Helsingborg for the last 10 years. That's not the kind of record that we like the most. The net results amounts to SEK 478 million, which corresponds to SEK 3.11 per share. And EPRA NRV increased 2% to SEK 155.59. And Page 4. Since we're not used to that our income is lower than before, it's worth mentioning the reasons. If we compare to Q1 2020, this quarter is affected by minus SEK 24 million from divestments; minus SEK 4 million is COVID discounts; minus SEK 8 million as currency effect; and minus SEK 13 million as lower service income, for example, parking and cantinas; minus SEK 20 million in higher vacancy, in line with the figures from Q4. And then we have a positive effect from, for example, higher rents index and new projects amounting to plus SEK 26 million. This picture might give some extra information even if most of it is known fact since before or can be calculated. Page 5. As mentioned, we continue with positive net letting also in Q1, plus SEK 9 million. We have signed leases for SEK 56 million and termination summarized to SEK 47 million. There is business to be done, and the rent levels are moving in the right direction. This quarter, new signed agreements are 9% higher level than terminations. But of course, it's always difficult to draw conclusions from a mix of [ views ]. The net letting in historical perspective at Page 6. Positive figures for the last 24 quarters, and of course, that's not any -- I guarantee that we will never be below 0. But overall, this proves that we have a good potential in our markets. And we will continue to do everything we can to keep this curve on the right side of the line. As part of the terminations, this quarter has a bankruptcy that may also be a bit of a surprise for us, and it was not connected to the pandemic. [indiscernible] main choice to terminate their business in Denmark due to poor agreements they signed and they couldn't get out of it in any other way. Not the most common course of action that we see, but I'm sure that [indiscernible] management team will soon fill this gap again. Turning to Page 7, and to our 10 largest tenants. The rental income, which accounts for public tenants is now up to 24%. Public tenants continue to be important in our portfolio. But as I say, every quarter is widespread across many sectors in our regions, that is the strength that brings stability. And Page 8. Rental value is now SEK 3.205 billion (sic) [ SEK 3.285 billion ] per year and rental income SEK 2.962 billion after divestments. And looking at like-for-like figures, we can see that rental value is up just a bit over-indexed, which was 0.3% (sic) [ 0.4% ]. And that's a signal that this activity at our tenant has been lower this year. They haven't had the same needs of changing. And therefore, we haven't had the same opportunity to raise the rents as in normal times. But this will come back again. And the rental income is affected by higher vacancies, some of them chosen by us. But also, for example, [indiscernible] moving out from a temporary lease in Nya Vattentornet 4. Rental value and rental income is affected by -- well, they will be improved this year with tenants moving in, for example, in Terminalen and Ursula 1 in Helsingborg. Page 9. The occupancy rate is at the same level in Malmö and Lund as last quarter, a bit lower in Helsingborg because of Terminalen and Ursula 1. As I mentioned, we're waiting for the tenants to move in. These figures will also improve over time when the properties where we have chosen termination as a possibility for refurbishment and transformation for new demand. Families properties are, for example, Slagthuset, Pulpeten and Börshuset in Malmö, and [ Raffinaderiet 3 ] and Vätet 1 in Lund. In Slagthuset, Sparven and [ Raffinaderiet ] projects are ongoing. And in Börshuset and [ Vätet ], we are applying for planning commissions. The operating surplus in offices summarized to SEK 1.892 billion and a running yield at 4.8%. Total value to SEK 9.202 billion. On Page 10. We see continued high demand in logistics and production. And here, the opportunity is up in Malmö to an almost impossible 97%, temporarily down in Helsingborg and 92% occupancy rate as a whole with a running yield of 6.8% and a total value of SEK 5.762 billion. Demand continues to be strong throughout this sector in all our cities. And the entire property stock, Page 11. The occupancy rate is now 90%, 1% down since Q4 because of former projects coming into operation. Operating surplus SEK 2.274 billion and running yield 5 -- no, I think have got the wrong number. Let's turn to Page 12. We have changes in market value of our properties. We started the year with SEK 46.072 billion in accordance with our external valuation, which once a year is valued at 100% of the stock at the same time. And we have made acquisitions for SEK 165 million, invested SEK 208 million, changes in valuations of SEK 74 million, mostly coming from development gains in Denmark. And together with currency translation of SEK 168 million, that summarized a property value of SEK 46.687 million. Page 13. Even if the curve is a bit flatter than before lately due to a large industrial divestments in 2020, it's still moving upward. But there is more to come when we continue our investments, of course. And the map to our value at Page 14. 42% of the value is in Malmö, 18% in Copenhagen, 23% in Helsingborg and 17% in Lund. Also this quarter, we have good discussions with possible tenants in all our properties. A possibly new thing is that we have seen several discussions in Lund with slightly larger volumes than we have seen in a long time. That's interesting, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the next move will be there. We bought Nya Vattentornet 2, 3 and 4 a couple of years ago. And one aspect of that was to get a better composition of large and small areas in the same district. This will pay off when the timing is right. And Page 15, a slide for the general situation. We signed new leases on higher levels of terminations. The number of bankruptcies due to the pandemic is low, but vulnerable industries are still struggling. We try to help when it seems to be the right thing to do. Rents are still being paid on time. And we also see that more and more people are talking loudly about their need to meet at their workplaces. And different investigations points in the same direction. We need to meet other people to be creative, get energy and create a culture in the company. But a flexible way of working will be asked for and the design of the workplace may be affected in a way that makes them even more attractive. And of course, the signs are significant but economic activity is picking up, which will contribute to decreasing vacancies. And over to Arvid.

[Arvid Liepe, CFO & Secretary]

Thank you very much, Ulrika, and good morning, everyone. Moving to Slide 16. Looking at the income statement. Basically, Ulrika has already talked about the rental income and the operating surplus. Worth mentioning regarding the operating surplus is that the effect of the colder winter than compared to last year when it comes to increased costs for heating and snow, that increased costs and the comparison is a higher cost of SEK 7 million in the quarter. We have an income from property management of SEK 416 million. Positive value changes also, as Ulrika mentioned. And in this quarter, we also have a positive value change in our derivatives portfolio amounting to SEK 97 million. All in all, that makes a pretax profit of SEK 587 million and the profit for the period of SEK 478 million. Moving to Slide 17. Looking at the balance sheet, comparing the situation end March with the situation 12 months previously. You can see that the value of the properties is basically flat. And at the same time, equity has increased by SEK 1.6 billion and our debts have decreased by SEK 1.7 billion. So despite the divestments, property values are basically flat and we have increased equity in, I would say, quite a decent way. Moving to Slide 18. The balance sheet transformed into key figures. Our equity assets ratio now stands at 41.5% and our LTV at 48.4%. Interest cover ratio remains at a very, very high 6.4x. The surplus ratio in the quarter is slightly lower than the same quarter last year at 69%. We have now adopted a couple of the new definitions of the EPRA key numbers. So you can see on this slide that our EPRA NDV stands at SEK 129 and the EPRA NRV at SEK 155.59. Moving to Slide 19. Based on the earnings and the situation of the balance sheet, the Annual Shareholders Meeting, which takes place today is very likely to take the decision to pay dividends to our shareholders of SEK 5.25 per share. And on this Slide 19, you can see the historic development of the dividend. On Slide 20, you see the historic development of the EPRA net reinstatement value. And since 2009, the average annual growth rate adjusted for dividends has been 17%. A historic overview of additional financial ratios, you find on Page 21. The equity assets trend is over this 7-year period, which you see in the graph, the trend is in a stable way moving upwards. And correspondingly, the loan-to-value trend going downwards over this period. Looking at the interest cover ratio, we had a shift in the level, as I'm sure you remember, towards the end of 2018. But since then, we've been in a stable way above 6x in the interest cover ratio. On Page 22, you find the historic development of the key number net debt in relation to EBITDA. It now stands at 11x, which we feel is -- we feel it's a good measure of the financial stability since it basically takes into account the cash earnings that we do generate. Moving to Slide 23. Our sources of financing has not changed much during the quarter. 46%, almost half our financing, comes from bilateral bank agreements, almost 20% from the bond market and the rest from the Danish mortgage loan system. On Page 24, you find the details of our loan portfolio. And you can see that the average interest rate that we have now is 1.32%. And the average fixed interest period is 3.4 years and the average loan maturity is 6.3 years. On Page 25, you find the historic developments of these 2 last numbers. As you all are probably aware, the long loan maturity that we've had over many years now is, of course, also attributable to us being able to get very long-term and favorable financing in the Danish mortgage loan system. The fixed interest period over the past 3 years has been fairly stable at around 3.5 years. On Page 26, you find the historic development of our available funds, unutilized credit facilities plus liquid funds. And over the past couple of years, we've had increasing available funds, and they are actually now around SEK 4 billion. Obviously, our ambition is to be able to use this available capacity. And with that, I think it may be proper to hand over -- hand back to Ulrika to talk about investments and projects. Thank you very much.

[Ulrika Hallengren, Chief Executive Officer]

Yes. Thank you. Thank you. So let's go to acquisitions and divestments, Page 28. We have the high transaction volume in Q4, and it was led by a slightly more cautious Q1 where we bought Industriparken 21 in Ballerup, Copenhagen. 10,200 square meters lettable area, of which 90% is leased. A property with good energy performance at the location we would like to be. Transaction day ended up to be 21st of March. But let's go to investments in progress, Page 30. We have, during Q1, invested SEK 208 million in ongoing projects. And it remains SEK 1.204 billion to invest in already approved projects. Overall, the projects continue according to plan without any effects from corona, but we also see some signals that the price level might go up a bit in some areas, and that's delivery time in certain types of products are extended. But that doesn't affect ongoing projects now. Page 31. We have started the project Kvartetten at Pulpeten 5 in Hyllie with 16,000 square meters lettable floor area. Great efficiency, a warm inner core, the highest sustainability standard with both zero carbon dioxide footprint, environmental classification and well certification, just the right product for the future office. We have made offers for more than half of the lettable area, but there's a long time before this project is finished in Q2 2023. We have no other vacancy in this area. On Page 32. At Sunnanå 12:54, the project for Regional Council of Skåne is completed. And the one for Veho Bil is ongoing for a bit longer due to additional orders. Here is actually one example where we can see that the energy sector affects delivery times. A question that sometimes is under debate in the south of Sweden. But these things were added after signing the lease, so it doesn't have any real effect on us. Both projects are fully let. Page 33. Hindby-gården 7. We're doing a project fully let to Beckhoff Automation. A state-of-the-art office at a good transport location in Malmö. Completion in Q3 2022. And Page 34. In Kranen 2, we continue with a project for Regional Council of Skåne and Malmö University. Fully let to them. And total, we invest SEK 237 million, and we also have long leases here. Page 35. There's a picture of the commercial project at Raffinaderiet 3 in Lund. The old tenants are moving out and preparation and planning for the building space continues. And we have started signing the first leases here. This investment will give us 5,800 square meters modern offices with an industrial touch that's right beside the Central Station in Lund. And a short update in future investments, Page 37 then. 4 possible projects in our 3 Swedish cities. Plåtförädlingen will maybe be a bit transformed depending on the latest discussions. Posthornet 1 is just beside Raffinaderiet. And this will provide the city center with larger areas than Raffinaderiet. Raffinaderiet is a bit smaller scale with another customer group. And then we have Zenit, Ideontorget. And it continues to get its final design. And we know that patience combined will zeal is a good medicine, not only in pandemic times. Page 38 actually might be an example of that. We won a competition to buy land at the Science Village area in 2015. At that time, it was stipulated that we could only build a hotel at this spot. But times change, and now we have the opportunity to build offices and premises for research and development here. So things are moving on in a really interesting direction. This was just between the research facilities Max IV and ESS, it will be a good spot to be in the future, and we are ready. Page 39, moving to Malmö. Bläckhornet 1, the project that we call Vista. Procurement is ongoing and we are planning to start this third phase with 400 parking spaces and a great sports hub in 2021. It's a unique opportunity to offer both good parking and direct access to the train station for both Pulpeten 5 and Bläckhornet 1. Page 40, Nyhamnen. This picture and this land area will follow us for many years. And Nyhamnen in the city center and just beside the harbor in [ Malmö ], we are looking forward to next level of selling plan, and we use the same recipe with a combination of zeal and patience to get the job done. Our first opportunities with a new [ summer plan ] in still at Page 41. At Smörkajen, where we at least will be able to produce between 10,000 and 13,000 square meter offices in the first projects. And of course, Page 42, Kranen 1 --, just at the end -- Kranen 15 is the right [indiscernible] just at the entrance to the docking area for [ Malmö ]. Our application for planning commission is still being processed. And we summarize, Page 43. As said before, we have a positive net letting and rents are moving in the right direction. Many industries experienced a good recovery. And we are affected by divestments and vacancies. But earnings in relation to debt remain strong, and we have a good balance sheet and liquidity position so that we can continue with our growth. We both continue with our investments as we focus on our earnings capacity, and we do so with continued stability. And then we are open for your questions, please.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Markus Henriksson from Pareto Securities.

[Markus Henriksson, Research Analyst]

A few questions on the investment levels and project portfolio. If we look at 2020, you invested around SEK 1.2 billion, and you have currently remaining investments of around SEK 1.2 billion, but with some project completions here in 2022 and 2023. So how do you view investment levels for 2021 with that spectrum?

[Ulrika Hallengren, Chief Executive Officer]

I expect them to be approximately like 2020. We're just starting up Kvartetten and that project will speed up during this year. And hopefully, I think we all can see some further investments also decided in a soon time. But in level with 2020, I would say.

[Markus Henriksson, Research Analyst]

Okay. Regarding future projects, what's missing? For example, Plåtförädlingen 15, the project being ready to start for quite some time now, and the market is quite favorable. Could you elaborate a bit on that project in particular?

[Ulrika Hallengren, Chief Executive Officer]

Well, if we look at the moment, together with the tenant is to get even higher efficiency there so that we can expand the area actually. So -- and I think that discussion is a good discussion, and it's worth spending some time on that, if that could give us even larger area.

[Operator]

And the next question comes from the line of Erik Granström from Carnegie.

[Erik Granström, Financial Analyst]

I have a few questions as well. If we could start off with the net letting figure and the rental market in general. Could you say something about the activities in the different markets that you're working in? Is there any difference between the areas? Or is this fairly spread out between the Swedish and the Danish side, for example?

[Ulrika Hallengren, Chief Executive Officer]

I would say that the activity is good on both in Sweden and Denmark. Approximately at the same level. And also, the 3 of our Swedish cities, we have good activity. But as mentioned before during this pandemic time, the tempo is slower than a normal year. And sometimes it takes even longer time before a decision is made. But there is business to be done in all our 4 cities, definitely.

[Erik Granström, Financial Analyst]

Okay. And you mentioned in the report -- and this is also a little bit connected with the rental market. You mentioned that you do expect the consumer rates, which came up a little bit versus the end of last year to remain for a while. Could you perhaps specify a little bit of what you mean by that? Do you expect it to remain throughout this year and then start to come down? Or what do you expect in terms of vacancies, given what you already know?

[Ulrika Hallengren, Chief Executive Officer]

For example, moving in Ursula and Terminalen 1, the movement has just started and will continue during this year. And of course, that affects the vacancy. We also have ongoing projects in Slagthuset and Sparven in Malmö, for example. And that will also continue with moving in this year. So -- and for the larger areas, for example, at Nya Vattentornet. I think we will see things there both this year and the next -- the coming years before they are built.

[Erik Granström, Financial Analyst]

Okay. But you do expect vacancies towards the end of this year to be lower that what we saw towards the end of last year? Is that -- should I interpret it that way?

[Ulrika Hallengren, Chief Executive Officer]

Yes, yes.

[Erik Granström, Financial Analyst]

Okay. Okay. Good. And then perhaps on the ability to make acquisitions. You have a very strong balance sheet. I know we talked about that for a while now following the divestments. You made an acquisition now recently. What is -- what's the market look like in terms of your ability to find assets to acquire?

[Ulrika Hallengren, Chief Executive Officer]

There is a market, of course, but I'm interested to buy more, of course. So we are active, but we are also patient to find the right products. It's always the most important thing that is the right thing for us.

[Erik Granström, Financial Analyst]

But is it finding the right asset? Or is it the price level of the right asset that is holding you back? Because it seems like you're very eager to find things, but it's perhaps not as easy as perhaps we expect it to be. And is that because you can't find the right asset or because the pricing of the right asset isn't what you're looking for?

[Ulrika Hallengren, Chief Executive Officer]

I would say it's a combination, of course, because it need to be both the right assets and the right price level and the right conditions. So we have also seen transactions with a bit special kind of index in the leases and such that's a bit tricky to price at the right way. So it's a combination. It's both need to be the right price and the right product.

[Erik Granström, Financial Analyst]

Okay. And in terms of the discussions with tenants for projects, is -- has anything changed now that we've been sort of a year into the pandemic in terms of what tenants are looking for now? Is it still the same kind of discussions of efficient space and also, obviously, the rent level? Or has something changed in what tenants are typically looking for at this point?

[Ulrika Hallengren, Chief Executive Officer]

I would say that it's a bit different between what kind of customers is. We see some signals from international customers that they still discuss the possible for decrease the area for each employee. But I also see that customers in this market, we want to make the work space attractive to attract the right employees. So of course, that's -- so that doesn't always give the same results. So the attractiveness of the world space is in high focus. Our customers want to offer their employees a good spot to be, of course. So it's a bit different. I don't really think that there's so much discussions on the price level. It's more about the location and the quality that's been in those focus.

[Erik Granström, Financial Analyst]

Okay. And my final question is, your like-for-like development was negative in Q1, not surprising given sort of you started up new projects and the vacancy has come up a little bit. But remembering what you mentioned about the vacancy, what would you say for 2021? Do you think that you will end this year as a total with a positive like-for-like development in rents? Or do you think that you are going to end up in negative territory in the end either way?

[Ulrika Hallengren, Chief Executive Officer]

I hope that the activity in -- as our customers will go [ out ] during this year so that we can provide them with some changes that always affects the rents in a positive way. Definitely, I hope that, and then we will end up in a positive direction here.

[Operator]

And we have one more question from the line of Niklas Wetterling from DNB.

[Niklas Wetterling, Research Analyst]

You finished the project, Ursula and Terminalen, in, I believe, December last year. And the last pre-letting figure we saw in the last report was 60% in both of those projects, I believe. I wonder how much is let out by now and the status in those and filling -- to fill those projects up?

[Ulrika Hallengren, Chief Executive Officer]

Yes. So it still remains, some areas there. I would say that the letting is approximately 70%. Now we have signed some new leases, but there's still more to be done. And as mentioned, this, takes longer time than a normal year. But good areas and good location and good quality, we get a high interest there, definitely. So they will be filled up, but it takes some time.

[Arvid Liepe, CFO & Secretary]

And it's also worth remembering, if I may jump in here, that out of the 70% which is now let, not everybody has moved in. So they will move in gradually during this year.

[Operator]

And as there are no further questions, I'll hand it back to the speakers for closing remarks.

[Ulrika Hallengren, Chief Executive Officer]

Okay. Thank you for your attention, and we will continue with our work, and hope to see you soon. Thank you.

[Arvid Liepe, CFO & Secretary]

Thank you, everyone.

[Operator]

That does conclude the conference call. Thank you all for attending. You may now disconnect your lines.