Deutsche Euroshop Ag Akt

Thank you, Francie. A good morning from the team of Deutsche Euroshop in Hamburg. Thank you for attending the presentation of our preliminary results for 2022, including an update on the situation in our centers and on the development of Deutsche Euroshop Group. My name is Patrick Kiss. I am head of investor relations at Deutsche Euroshop and have been in this position for almost 20 years. Unfortunately, our new board member, Hans-Peter Kneipp, too ailing to make this call with you today. His voice left him step by step yesterday. After the last three years, you don't even remember that there are also normal, strong colds. In this way, get well soon, Hans-Peter. Let's start with our business activities. For an executive summary of 2022, please see slides two and three. After two years overshadowed by the pandemic, 2022 was impacted to a much lesser extent. It was a kind of transition year on the way to a new normal, operationally as well as in terms of how we deal with COVID-19. An overall collection rate of 99% for 2022 and an APRA occupancy rate of 94.3% show how solid our portfolio is. This is also reflected in the strong cash position we still have and the low LTV of 30.3%. Later, we will have a closer look on the financials. 2022, as just mentioned, was a year of transition, and this because of the expiring pandemic restrictions and also the acquisition of Deutsche Euroshop by Oaktree and Cura and the management change we had. Following the capital increase we completed at the beginning of this year, the two partners, Oaktree and Cura, now hold 74 percent of our shares. We have prepared some details on the capital increase on the slides four to six. As you know, we used the proceeds to acquire additional stakes in six centers of our portfolio. The streamlining of the portfolio structure helps us to further strengthen our financial profile, as well as the ability to distribute dividends. The total purchase price of the additional shares in the six centers was approximately 303.3 million euros. What happened and happens in our shopping centers? On slide seven, we have a look on our footfall. After a difficult start into 2022 with various corona-related restrictions, the footfall numbers have improved sustainably until summer last year. At the end of July, we were able to reach a level of 89% of the comparable pre-pandemic period in 2019. This means people are enjoying the regained shopping freedom and a certain normality. They are returning to the city centers, the shopping malls, and into the shops. And this, so far, despite a certain reluctance of consumers in view of rising prices and the war in the Ukraine. Particularly in the second half of the year, we have seen that there is a certain caution. In November and December, we reached around 80% of pre-COVID levels. And in January, we started with more or less 90% compared to January 2019. Coming to the retail turnover on slide eight, looking at our portfolio, 10 turnover is nearly back at the levels of 2019. In Germany, it's only slightly lower at 93.2%. Our overall tenant sales averaged approximately 95% of 2019 levels in the last quarter of 2022. These figures also make us optimistic, even if inflation contributed to this development. However, in comparison with the footfall, these figures also mean that the single shopping basket per visitor has become bigger. This is another example of how pandemic may have changed our habits. People come less often but spend more money per visit. It is worth mentioning that people are more afraid for their own income perspective since the beginning of the war in the Ukraine than they were at the peak of the pandemic. In addition, the propensity to buy is at a record low. and rising prices, especially for energy, leave less room for consumption. On slide nine, you can see our collection ratio since the beginning of the pandemic, which initially followed the pattern of the consumer footfall and is strongly correlating with the lockdown periods. The collection ratio represents the ratio of received to invoiced rents, service charges and marketing contributions after corona-related concessions. For 2021, the number was 95 percent and is now close to normality. In 2022, the collection ratio was at 99 percent, with only very limited rent concessions granted, resulting from some cleanup for 2021. On slide 10, you will see that the rate of maturity of our rental contracts is now at 5.0 years after 5.3 years the year before. That reflects the slightly shorter lease terms we have been agreeing to for a couple of years. The occupancy rate was stable at 94.3%. On slide 11, you will find our top 10 tenants with some minor changes. Peck & Kloppenburg, or P&C, here is made up of the north and south parts of the company combined. The majority of the contracts relate in our portfolio to Peck & Kloppenburg Düsseldorf, which was recently in the headlines because of its protective shield proceedings to restructure the company. Our partners from ECE, are in permanent exchange here for this reason. Our sector mix on slide 12 shows that fashion is still the focus of our malls. And that's a good thing because visitors have proven to value our focus tenant mix here. This is also true in times of online retailing. For the first time, we have shown in this tenant mix leisure and entertainment separately. a tenant group that is becoming more and more important for our portfolio and for the retail world. So far, the update on the situation in our centers. I will now come to the financial results of 2022, and we'll start with evaluation of our shopping centers on slide 13. Evaluation of the shopping centers were, again, negative in a still tense market environment. The significant rise in interest rates in the reporting year had a negative impact on the valuation. Including investment costs, the valuation result before taxes was minus 106.3 million euro as of the end of 2022. This corresponds to an average degree of 3 percent after 1.5 percent in 2021. The increased net initial yield for our portfolio now stands at 6.01 percent. The sensitivity of the valuation results to changes of the main value drivers is provided in the table in the lower part of this slide on the right side. I will now come to the revenues on slide 14. These came out slightly higher at 212.8 million euro after 211.8 million euro in 2021. In contrast to the previous year, which was significantly affected by shop closures due to the pandemic in the first weeks and months of 2021, all our tenants fortunately were allowed to open their shops for the full year of 2022. The continuing effects of the corona pandemic, such as defaults of tenants in payment difficulties, lower turnover rents, as well as longer relating periods and higher vacancy rates, mean that revenues are still below the pre-pandemic level. Rental concessions are mainly reflected in the item alone and wide off of receivables of the previous year. Therefore, revenues are only slightly higher than in the previous year, despite the absence of the closure phases. On page 15, we show you the development of our EBIT, which showed a minimal change to now €152.4 million. As already mentioned, the major financial effect resulting from the pandemic was reflected in the allowances for rent receivables. These allowances were made in relation to realized and or expected losses of rents in connection with tenant support measures. For example, rent concessions or in relation to de facto respectively likely insolvencies. In 2022, these allowances came down to 8.1 million Euro compared to 25.1 million Euro in 2021. These effects were compensated by other operating expenses of €20.5 million. These costs are caused by consulting expenses in the context of the takeover bid, the preparation of the acquisition of further stakes in six shopping centers at the beginning of 2023, in connection with the capital increase, as well as the severance payments to former members of our executive board. I now turn to page 16 and to the financial result. It improved by 4.7 million euro, or 17.3 percent. Interest savings of 3.1 million euro due to favorable refinancing for our Birchstedt Center Hamburg, our City Gallery Wolfsburg, and our Altmark Gallery Dresden, and an increase at equity operating profit of plus 3.9 million euro had a positive impact on the financial results. The minority profit share was 2.5 million euro higher than in 2021. In slide 17, you see the EBT adjusted for the valuation increased from 125.6 million euro to 130.2 million euro, which is a plus of 3.7% due to the high operating result of standing assets, a plus of 8.9 million euro. Another positive impact came from interest savings. These amounted to 3.1 million euro. The result was reduced by costs concerning the takeover of 7.4 million euro. Let us look at the operating profit, the APRA earnings, on page 18. The APRA earnings improved by 7.6 million euro to now 129.6 million euro, an increase of 6.3 percent. On a per share basis, the APRA earnings increased from 1.97 to 2.10 euro. Now come to the consolidated result of the group on slide 19. The consolidated profit decreased from 59.9 million euro to 21.4 million euro. The main impact for the change came from a higher result of the standing assets on the one side, a plus of 8.6 million euro, but on the other side, the valuation results of minus 41.7 million Euro and changes due to other deferred taxes of minus 5.4 million Euro. Correspondingly, the EPS decreased by 64% from 97 cents to 35 cents in 2022. Please follow me now to page 20 and to the development of the FFO, which excludes the valuation results. The FFO increased from 122.3 million Euro to now 130.1 million Euro, or on a per share basis from one Euro 98 to two Euro 11. The FFO calculation we excluded the one-off expenses in connection with the takeover offer, an amount of five million Euro. I'm now coming to the balance sheet on page 21 where you will only see small changes compared to the figures of the previous year. Our total assets amount to 4.2 billion euro. This is just a change of 70.7 million euro compared with the reporting date end of 2021. Our consolidated liquidity as of December 31st, 2022 stands at 335 million euro. That is a plus of 6.1 million euro in 12 months. Total equity, including minorities, decreased by 34.4 million euro. As at the end of 2022, current and non-current financial liabilities stood at 1.48 billion euro, which was 22.9 million euro lower and at the end of 2021, influenced by scheduled redemptions. Non-current deferred tax liabilities increased by 1.4 million euro to 334.4 million euro. Our equity ratio increased slightly and now stands at a solid 55.7 percent, and the consolidated LTV now stands at a low 30.3 percent. The APRA LTV calculated proportionally according to the group share in all assets, so to say, on a look-through basis, stands at 33.1 percent, a continued very low level. While earnings and profits are still below pre-Corona levels, our balance sheet today is even stronger than it was before Corona. Having a look on slide 22, we show the APRA NTA per share, which slightly decreased from 38.43 euro to 37.81 euro due to the lower valuation of the portfolio. The discount of yesterday's share price to the APRA NTA was 49 percent. On the page 23, we give you some information on our debt. There are no expiring loans this nor next year. Currently, our consolidated debt bears an average interest rate of 2.43 percent. The weighted maturity of our loan portfolio now stands at 6.8 years. Coming to some news on our portfolio on slide 23, 24 and 25. As you know, we published new investment plans for the Main-Taunus Centrum. Appropriation is MTZ, one of our large, one of the largest and highest turnover shopping centers in Germany and among the jewels in our portfolio. A new highlight is to be added to the MTZ, giving it a newly, new, lively and urban center with a high quality varied restaurants, and food offering. Five new freestanding restaurant buildings are to be built until 2024, some with roof terraces, some with outdoor terraces, attractive landscaped exterior areas, and sophisticated architecture. The new food garden will be built on an area of around 7,000 square meters in the heart of the shopping center in place of a former department store building. In the meantime, numerous food trucks around the construction site provide a varied offer, which is very welcomed by the visitors. And the planned space for rent is attracting a strong response from resident operators from the region, as well as from national chains. The first rental agreements are currently being signed. Other positive things are also happening at the Rhein-Neckar Centrum. Please see for this slide 26. No other center in our portfolio is currently seeing more retail attainment. We have been very successful in re-letting the former do-it-yourself store. A laser tech arena, a trampoline park, and a successful cycling concept will open here in 2024. Directly opposite to these, the standalone Losteria restaurant is currently under construction. Already opened and only a few meters away is the indoor skydiving center, which has started very promisingly. All of these tenants will positively benefit from each other and give the entire center a further boost. On slide 27, we briefly take you to the Baltic Sea. Various refurbishments were successfully carried out at Galleria Bartizka as part of the at-your-service and mall beautification programs. We believe such and similar investments are crucial for the future of our shopping centers and the market segment in general. Finally, I would like to come to slide 28 and look at financing activities and transaction markets. Financing first. As already mentioned in our last call with our former executive board member, Olaf Borckes, we have agreed with banks on a 107.4 million euro loan with a 10 years maturity and a fixed interest rate of 2.45 percent. to refinance the loan for our Altmarktgalerie Dresden that became due end of March 2022. We have concluded all our upcoming refinancings for 2022. This included a group-level loan of €52 million, as well as financing for the City Point customer of €55 million. A credit tranche of €10 million for the LA Center Hamm was repaid at the end of September. A 221 million euro follow-up loan for the next 10 years with a new interest rate of 3.56%, previously the interest rate was 2.99%, has been agreed in September for our mine townhouse centrum. 209 million euro of these, 221 million euro, were used to repay the loan that matured in January 2023, so two months ago, while the additional 12 million euro will be used to help finance plant and just mentioned food garden at Maintown Centre. Next loans will only be due in September 2025 and major financings only from 2026 onwards. In the last month, we have seen some interesting shopping center transactions in Germany again. A mall in Berlin was sold and is now being restructured. A further shopping center has been sold in Munich. In the West of Germany, a bigger shopping center is to be put on the market. This shows the strength of prime shopping centers and strongly supports Deutsche Euroshop's strategy and valuation. Let's come to the financial outlook on slide 29. We expect a nearly unchanged FFO between €2 to €2.10 per share for the full year. In total amounts, we expect funds from operations of €153 million to €160 million, a potential plus of approximately 18 percent and more. This is the result of the acquisition of the additional stakes in six of our shopping centers. 2023 will be the first full year entirely without COVID-related restrictions for our tenants and shopping center visitors. And we expect, despite the not only positive external circumstances, a further improvement of our overall business. We will continue to invest in the future competitiveness of our shopping centers in 2023. Around 79 million Euro are planned to be invested in the running year. In addition, we are currently evaluating the further optimization and diversification of our financing structure. And finally, a few words about the dividends. Because of the uncertainties regarding the scope and duration of the pandemic, Deutsche had decided to accumulate significant liquidity reserves. Due to the declining pandemic and the stabilization of the operating business, the company's liquidity position is now probably to be reduced to a normal level again. For the fiscal year 2022, the Executive Board will develop a dividend proposal in coordination with the Supervisory Board which will be communicated as part of the publication of the annual report with the final and audited results for 2022 on April 27th next month. Ladies and gentlemen, we remain optimistic as before, even though there's still some way ahead of us. Our company is well prepared, And we would be more than happy to have you join us on this journey. So far, my presentation. Thank you for listening. I'm now happy to take your questions. Francie, please take over.

Thank you, Patrick. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will begin the question and answer session. And we have the first question from Andre Remke from Baader Bank. Your question, please.

Yeah, good morning, Patrick. Thanks for the presentation. A couple of questions from my side. First, on the rent development, on the CPI-linked rent increases in particular, is it possible to say what the contribution was last year and to what extent you were able to pass it to tenants and what are your expectations for this year? This is the first question.

Honestly, no, we can't give you the number today. This is probably able, we will be able end of next month with the final results to give you a better split of these numbers. But in general, this is of course a position which is to be negotiated with the tenants always. And one of the potential options we have in the negotiations For some tenants, we are able to put this through into the contracts, and for others, it's only part of the CPI development. It's only part of the full story. So, that means if you speak about an average inflation rate of 7.9 percent or around this, then maybe 4 or 5 percent in some contracts is the results. but in general, this is a situation which now is becoming a little bit easier because the worst is over and already signed and passed. So, as you know, we have a framework of contracts with our partner ECE and we only sign contracts which are differing in this framework and these contracts we have to sign here at Deutsche Wirtschaft personally are becoming less. That means the situation becomes more relaxed and there's not so much difference to the normal framework. That's another positive development, but obviously the worst is behind us.

Perfect. Thank you. And the second question refers to the 79 million to be invested this year into your centers. Is it all about the three mentioned centers, so McDonald's, Rhein-Neckar, and Gdansk? And are you able to split the sum up, the 80 million, into the three centers?

And it's probably not only the three centers, because when we had the high levels of the corona pandemic we postponed our planned programs which were running from 2018 onwards and we proposed them to the after corona period which is now in place and therefore we have to regain or restart these investments. So it's mainly the finalization in some of the centers which are not finalized yet of the actual service and more beautification programs. So if you remember, before Corona, we spoke of investments of 25 to 30 million euro per year for the whole portfolio. And now we're starting after three years of a pause with these programs. It's a little bit more than originally planned, nearly two and a half fold of the former amount which was planned. So it's nothing additional, in fact. It's more that we will try to come up to speed again with the finalization of these programs.

Okay, perfect, understood. It brings me to the next question. These, let's say, 80 million is, or other way around, is your dividend policy. You mentioned to reduce the cash position to a more normal level. I remember that in the past you had between 100, 150 million of cash each year. Today, 300 million. 50 or so. If we would say for dividend payments, you come down from 350 to 150, but you have to include the 80 million investment. Is it the right thinking or what do you see as a normal level? This is a base question.

This is exactly the point that always had to keep in mind that the liquidity we show in the group is also already reserved for these kind of programs and investments and therefore you are correct with the assumption what we said in the last years that we think of 100 million euro plus as as an probably normal new liquidity we want to keep in the group to be prepared and protected against developments like we saw three years ago with the pandemic. That we are still independent from any banking, lending policies or problems or whatever. That was always the case with Deutsche Euroshop and probably will last from the future. 100 million plus is probably the normal liquidity level we try to keep in the group, including the planned investments we keep in mind.

Okay. And after the capital increase and the transaction and buying the shareholdings, is the cash level at year-end 335, is this still your account or has it changed due to the cap hike and the transaction, i.e. on the performer level or how you call it?

We have probably, I'm not sure yet, honestly, but probably the cash position or the liquidity position increased a little bit because we also, not was all done by contribution in kind, but we also got some proceeds from the capital increase in cash.

Okay, okay. That's also my side. Thank you, Patrick.

You're welcome, Andrea.

The next question comes from Manuel Martin from OdoBHF. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Patrick. Three questions from my side, please. First question is, you said in the outlook that some transactions were concluded in Germany. Could you imagine to start acquisitions at Deutsche Euroshop backed by your major shareholder if something interesting appears?

We have a huge potential of imaginary visions. No, it's the way it always was. We are an opportunistic player. We have a look on every... offer or opportunity and calculate if it makes sense. If the formal factors of the offered shopping centers are fitting with our strategy, that means things like size, layout, tenant mix, maturity of the lease terms, competition in the area, and so on. So the normal factors we check, and therefore we haven't changed anything in this approach. to look at every opportunity which arise. Currently we are not investigating more precise investment possibility, but it's still the case that we get the offers and we sometimes visit shopping centers and have a closer look if this makes sense for our portfolio and this probably won't change also in the future. But at the moment there's no project on the table that we are going for.

Okay, thanks. Then also a bit in that regard, is the plan to optimize leverage at the GeoShop is still on the table, i.e. to increase leverage or is that not more existing due to increased interest rate environment?

Yeah, we have shown the general idea in the text we published around the takeover bit, and we have published our ideas in the prospectus of the capital increase, and this hasn't changed. Of course, the market conditions not really improved, for these things, but as we are always a long-term approach company, this is on the table still and won't change. Why should a company say, no, we don't want to optimize our world average anymore? That will still be the case in the future. Okay, okay.

Last question, maybe a bit kind of general. You already said some words on the tenants. What's your perception of the mood of the tenants? I mean, we had this problem set peak in Kloppenburg. There's the inflation environment potentially depressing our clients. Do you have a kind of idea on how they feel?

Yeah, as I've mentioned, you already recognized, it's becoming better, obviously, for us. At least our look on the tenant's development. So the hardest seems to be over. but you never know. And yeah, we are flexible or have to be flexible and have to find new individual solutions with every tenant we negotiate with. For example, shorter lease terms. That's probably the clearest, most obvious effect of the corona pandemic that nowadays the 10 years is not anymore the standard maturity for lease terms. It's more option model of five plus five and so on years, like we always have seen in France, for example. So, shorter lease terms, conditions with, for example, minimum thresholds that cause then additional options threshold in terms of turnover for the tenant. If he doesn't reach after five years a certain level of turnover, he has the option to get out of the contract, for example. If the level is reached, then an automatic renewal of the contract. These are new forms of contracts where we try to find a solution with our tenants to help them in a partnership through these uncertain times. But in general, again, worst seems to be over. Of course, we see some problems for us, more or less unexpected, because we haven't seen these pick in Kloppenburg, especially not with the Düsseldorf, the south part of the group, coming. Karstadt or Galleria Kaufhof Karstadt is, for us, a minor issue. We have them, and they will stay in the Main-Taunus-Centrum and invest again. Karstadt and Main-Taunus-Centrum, you know. I spoke about the situation there. And in the Rhein-Neckar-Centrum, for example, we have the Galleria only as neighbor included in the shopping center. But of course, this is an effect we have to keep in mind that we probably will lose one month of rent from the Picken Kloppenburg tenant. But they still operate and plan to restructure and plan to continue their business, of course.

Okay. Thank you very much.

You're welcome, Manuel.

There are no further questions at this time, and I hand back to Patrick for closing comments.

Thank you very much to all of you. I wish you a good start into the spring. I hope to see you soon on conferences or roadshows, or maybe you visit us or one of our shopping centers. All the best to you and thank you for listening. Goodbye and have a good rest of the week.