Patrizia SE

SWB:PAT

Earnings Call Transcript 2021-Q1

[Karim Bohn, CFO & Member of the Management Board]

Hi, and welcome to our financial results presentation for the first 3 months of 2021. For those of you watching us for the first time, PATRIZIA is a leading partner for global real assets and currently manages more than EUR 47 billion assets under management for our diverse international client base, ranging from international pension funds and insurance companies to domestic retail investors. We are active in the long-term structural growth market, driven by lower-for-longer interest rates, increased allocations to real assets and ongoing industry consolidation.I'm very pleased to guide you through our financial results for the first 3 months of 2021. My 4 messages for you today are as follows: first, We had a good start into the year. Our business model, again, proved to be stable and resilient even in an adverse economic environment. Our operating income was up 7.4%, especially driven by continued organic growth in recurring management fees, which grew by 5.8%.During the first 3 months of the year, we signed transactions worth EUR 1 billion for our global client base. Through our pan-European network of real estate experts, we were able to source attractive deals for our clients, even though the overall real estate transaction market in Europe was down 33% compared to last year. This is a remarkable team success in times of continued lockdowns throughout Europe.At the same time, we raised EUR 300 million of fresh equity from our clients for investments in European and global real assets. Our assets under management continued to grow to EUR 47.2 billion, which confirms the high quality of the assets we manage for our clients and the successful investment strategies be run in a constantly changing market environment.Second, we have a rock solid balance sheet, both the net equity ratio of close to 77% and our available liquidity of more than EUR 630 million are testimony to our strong positioning. This gives us great flexibility to continue our growth path. On the one hand, it allows further organic growth through investments in technology and sustainability. On the other hand, we are a strong player in a consolidating industry. We keep screening attractive M&A opportunities, fully in line with our midterm strategy.Third, our profitability has increased. Through organic growth in assets under management, our highly recurring management fees grew by 5.8% compared to the previous year. At the same time, we were able to reduce our net operating expenses by 1.1% through continued cost containment. This confirms that we will emerge stronger from the crisis through discipline and the resilience of our business model.Fourth, we are well on track to deliver on our financial year 2021 guidance. We have a well-filled pipeline for the remaining 9 months of 2021. With accelerating vaccination rates around the globe, we see momentum coming back to real asset transaction markets. We are confident to reach our goal to sign a transaction volume of between EUR 6 billion and EUR 9 billion in 2021. This should lead to an organic increase in assets under management to between EUR 50 million and EUR 53 billion until year-end. Our good start into the year also forms a solid basis for operating income, which we expect between EUR 100 million and EUR 145 million for the financial year 2021.Last but not least, you might have seen that our annual report and quarterly financial publications are labeled with PATRIZIA as a forward-thinking partner. What does this mean? We believe it is the power to create a better tomorrow, ranging from responsible investments, performance-driven investment strategies to making a positive impact on society through a combination of local knowledge, people and data intelligence.Let me invite you to our investment strategy in research team's new website. Just click on the link for further background and market insights.Thank you so much for your attention. We hope to speak to you on one of our next virtual investor roadshows or conferences. Stay healthy.