Catella AB (publ)

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Cotella's interim report for the second quarter of 2024. My name is Christopher Abramson, and I'm the CEO of Cotella Group, and together with me today is Michel Tichy, DFO and Head of Investor Relations, and we will walk you through the highlights of the quarter. After the presentation, as always, we will open up for a Q&A session, and the materials and reports are available on our website. So to remind all of you and for any potential new listeners, I'd like to start the presentation with a brief overview of Catella on page three. Catella operates in three property-focused business areas, investment management, principal investments, and corporate finance. We manage a little over 150 billion Swedish in our pan-European investment management platforms. About 70% of the assets under management are managed in property funds and the other part in a significant number of asset management mandates across Europe. Principal investments is where we invest our own equity into a broad and diversified portfolio of European investment projects together with investment partners. The vast majority of our own investments are managed by our own asset management companies across Europe. So, in fact, managing our financial partners' investments as well as ours and generating additional fee revenue streams beside targeted returns on our invested capital. Corporate finance is our real estate advisory and brokerage arm with leading positions in five large European markets. Corporate finance is also an important internal advisor to our other business areas, investment management and principal investments. So with that brief introduction, I'd like to start this quarter's presentation with a market summary from the summer on page four. So following the first quarter of 2024, which was one of the slowest quarters since over a decade, the transaction activity increased somewhat in Q2. Although expectations on inflation continue to decline, central banks generally have remained somewhat cautious with interest rates cuts so far, even though the swap rates have come down quite a bit over the summer, which we see as a positive indicator. In addition, in the market this summer, elections were held in two of Europe's largest economies. And of course, the Olympic Games were held in Paris almost at the same time, which really further dampened the activity in some of our largest markets in continental Europe. Looking at valuations of European real estate assets, they have continuously now declined over the past seven quarters. However, the reduction during the most recent quarter now in second quarter was the lowest since the price adjustments began during the third quarter of 2022. So with a touch of optimism, maybe we could interpret this as the market slowly returning to levels where seller and buyer expectations will soon meet. Currently though, still this summer, overall transaction volumes as well as capital inflows in the European real estate market continue to be low. Our expectation is that a turnaround in the transaction market will commence early 2025. We've seen pockets across Europe where it's picked up already. but a broad recovery we predict in early 2025. And with our efforts that we have put into cost efficiency, digitalization, and the development and launch of new investment strategies, Catella will be a much better position to benefit from a stronger market based in all our business areas when a recovery begins. So with that market backdrop, let's move to page five. for a summary of our key operational highlights in the quarter. So even though the market continues to be quiet, we remain focused on adapting and evolving our business to increase efficiency, develop and launch new strategies for our investors, to, very importantly, secure our existing capital under management, and review new and optimistic investments with our own capital. We have made material adjustments to right size our cost base, and we will continue to make additional adjustments where appropriate, as long as the current market environment persists. We also maintain a very strong balance sheet and liquidity position. We review new investment opportunities continuously, but as I mentioned before, they really need to prove their ability to tick all the boxes Catella has for its own investments. So in addition to meeting our return hurdles, the goal is always also to generate investment management fees, and importantly, having the right, ideally new, long-term majority partners investing alongside of us. So we're also preparing to set up a green bond framework which will enable us to issue green debt going forward, which is going to be important when we're now reviewing options to refinance our outstanding bond, which matures in the spring of 2025. So if we go in then to investment management, probably the most important and best news in the quarter is that AUM increased slightly. compared to the last quarter, despite currency headwinds. I think that's a pretty strong starting statement for the business area of investment management. Capital inflows in our core property funds remain very limited. That's the downside, but so are outflows, which we consider a sign of strength under the currently challenging market conditions where most players, and so are we, are dealing with pretty challenging redemption requests in certain vehicles. But to date, we've managed to protect the capital in all our funds, which is a really good story. However, in this quarter, we've seen a bit of a trend shift. AUM has increased in our asset management business. And we're building volume through management of select underperforming assets, and assets which require repositioning in today's market. And growth in the AUM through our asset management, I think proves the resilience in our business model, where you can grow business in a weaker and more hesitant transaction market where investors have specific needs that play to our strengths across Europe. Also, on the fund side, in order to create a stronger, more efficient and larger fund platform, in investment management. We communicated the merger of our two fund companies, Catella Residential Investment Management, also known as CRIM, and Catella Real Estate AG, which we call CREAG, during the quarter. CRIM's focus is a fund offering aimed at European residential properties, while CREAG's focus is on commercial properties. Now, by merging the front office and the new Catella Investment Management GmbH, We are creating a more efficient function for capital raising, more coordinated investor relations, and stronger management and research operations. And at the same time, CREAG can focus exclusively on cost-efficient growth while offering fund administration and support to Catella and to external parties. Looking ahead, we have actively started to raise capital for our new product strategy called european living development the strategy satisfies the extensive structural supply shortage of modern sustainable and affordable housing options in different segments across europe which we've talked a lot about over the last quarters as supported by our our in-house developed AI tools that identify attractive areas for investment projects and with a targeted return of over 15%. This really looks at the investor demands of tomorrow and also, of course, responding to a desperate need in the European housing market. While the initial feedback so far from investors have been very positive, both in terms of the strategy and the structure, and also the pipeline that we have already secured. Patience is required when raising capital for new strategies. It takes longer given today's market conditions and anecdotally or as evidenced by in the last three years, the time to raise new funds globally has almost doubled. And of course, with new strategies, it's even more challenging. But so far, the investor dialogues and the pipeline is really strong, and that's what we're working on. Let's talk about principal investments. A relatively quiet quarter for principal investments. The focus remains on developing and completing existing projects, positioning assets correctly, and also putting the first phases of several projects up for sale. Everyone's always very interested in Cactus for good reason. It is a very attractive building in the exact right location, central Copenhagen, fully residential buildings. And with all our commercial rental agreements now in place, we are well positioned and we continue to look for the right buyer for the property. Of course, summer is always a bit slow. But now with fall returning, investor discussions are picking up. And with swap rates coming down, we think that we're well positioned. But there are no guarantees of how quickly you can conduct a transaction. Looking ahead, we have another couple of projects in sales processes and a few more potential new investments. that will come up for investment review in our investment committees and board. We're looking at more vehicles for European aggregation mandates together with capital partners. And with valuations now appearing at least in many markets to stabilize at the new level, we are looking at more attractive investment opportunities that we have for some time. So for corporate finance, finally, Although transaction volumes in Europe increased slightly on their previous quarter, it's up about 7%. Volumes remain down by almost 60% compared to the peak in 2022. So we noted some increase in corporate finance activity in Northern Europe, which is very positive. A large degree of the price corrections have already taken place and investors are beginning to act with a little bit more optimism. In Southern Europe, and particularly in France, transaction volumes were very low, driven by slower revaluation, political uncertainty and other factors. But though in the second half of the year we expect to see more deals completed, the pipeline is really building up. But as always, it's hard to predict exactly when that turns. You know, when you look at the UK, it's already started to move a bit ahead, and the Nordics, and usually you're looking at a three-, four- to six-month lag in continental Europe in that type of activity. So we expect that to pick up pretty soon. So let's move to page six. Summary of the group's consolidated results. So net revenue decreased by 108 million, or 24%. really as an effect of lower transaction volumes affecting all our business areas, and also materially, the absence of performance-related fees. Now, these were substantial in the comparable period, second quarter of 2023. That was really the tail end of the strong market where performance fees kept coming in. So it's a really hard comparable period, and we really look at how are we performing quarter over quarter, which we think is pretty solid. EBIT ended at $35 million. Again, compared to $88 million last year is hard. That really was, if you take out the performance-based fees in the second quarter for investment management, the change is not that dramatic. If you look at the decrease, It was partially offset by initiatives to increase efficiency and reducing costs, and costs are down 55 million year over year, which is a pretty large number in relation to the EBIT that we have delivered. If you look at investment management, AUM increased by a billion compared to the last quarter. Again, that's including some currency headwinds. And, you know, AUM in funds remains Relatively stable. There's continuous minor outflows in several funds, but that's normal. But I think keeping that AUM base and our funds stable is quite an achievement in today's market. But as we mentioned earlier, importantly, we secured growth now in new asset management mandates. So despite a slower transaction market, the underlying business model continues to perform and we maintain our emphasis on improving our fixed margins and developing new products. So in principle investments, again, another quiet quarter, but we make progress on our current projects and look at new investment opportunities. And I think that the critical factor here is we think that we have reached pricing levels that makes it possible to transact where land values have adjusted and our existing projects are well positioned for sale. And the entry point is coming. So it's a pretty interesting time for principal investments. In corporate finance, a relatively weak quarter on aggregate as an effect of the very weak transaction market. Really, we performed along with the market, broadly speaking. We noticed increased activity in the Nordics. And I'll come back to that a little bit. But continental Europe, and especially France, was weak. Continued cost focus and efficiency improvements leaves us in a good position to grow profitably when the cycle turns. And already in Q2 from our cost reductions and the slight uptick in the Northern European markets, we delivered positive EBIT in corporate finance outside of France. So on page eight, we start discussing investment management. And since the inception of investment management back in 2015, We have delivered a strong average annual growth rate of nearly 20%. Over the last 12 months, AUM has been stable. Again, we see that as a sign of strength in the current market. And in funds, as I mentioned, we've retained the capital with limited outflows to date. We've seen an increase now of asset management mandates and aggregation strategies. You know, that really balances the slower growth of AUM into funds and frankly, other business areas. And it showcases our strength as a local operating partner. Now, in this current market environment and the next cycle to come, delivering added value or alpha, different way of saying it, for your clients is what will set you apart. And this is one of our key differentiating factors. We are locally present with in-house vertically integrated operations across Europe where we can really support investors on a pan-European basis. Page nine, continue with investment management. Look, the transaction volumes are muted, as we all know. It led to a similar top line as the same quarter last year when you exclude the variable fees. There's no way to make up for those that we had in a very strong market. But throughout the slower market, we have, if you look at the P&L, continuously worked on efficiency improvements and cost reductions to mitigate the absence of performance based fees and significantly lower transaction based fees. Through the initiated merger of our two fund platforms, we will see additional improvements through one merged 10 billion euro fund platform. For us, of course, it remains critical that we Don't let up, and we continue to focus on efficiencies, on scalability, and on improving and expanding fixed margins as we launch new products. And we will continue to speak more about this through 2024 and beyond. But when you summarize it and you look at a 36% increase in fixed fee revenues in three years, despite valuation decreases, which affect the fees, we are well positioned for profitable growth. in the coming cycle, also with a lower cost base. So let's turn to page 11 for an overview of principal investments. The principal investment portfolio consisted of eight active investment projects at the quarter end, plus a number of smaller seed investments and equity co-investments in client aggregation mandates. Again, the quarter was relatively quiet, but I'd like to highlight, if you look at In the quarter and after the quarter, we're expecting a closing or sale of our logistics assets in Pallaxis before the end of the year. We've signed a new large tenant in the Manor Centre in the UK, increasing NOI materially. And the first base in Sistat in Mönchengladbach is now fully leased and ready for sale. Again, timing is always a little bit uncertain. Founded on our strong financial position, we remain patient with our projects, and we are ready to utilize our liquidity in new investment opportunities as they emerge. We currently see more of those coming to market at relevant pricing, especially when you look at land, enabling us now to take to investment committee a stronger pipeline of projects meeting our return targets. On page 13, focus on corporate finance. Mentioned this already a couple of times, transaction market increased slightly in the second quarter compared to the first, and our revenues grew with the market roughly. We outperformed in several areas, although we had a challenging quarter in France, but that had a lot of market factors attached to it. But if you notice, revenue decreased by about $13 million year over year. But our cost reductions offset almost this entire decrease. So we had a slightly lower loss, actually, than last year. And we can't be happy with that performance. But if we increase EBIT year over year in a very, very softening market, I think we've done some things right. and having a positive EBIT outside of France in the quarter at least is an indication that things are not all that bad. And we have performed well in four, really four of our five key markets. The pipeline remains really strong. It just takes a long time to conclude transactions. I think if you look at the rest of 2024, you're one or two or three, large transactions away from having a decent year. And that's what we're working on on a daily basis, of course. And the teams are working harder than they did, arguably, when the market was peaking because it takes a lot of effort to close a deal today. So with that, I'll hand over to Michelle, who will share a brief financial summary beginning on page 15.

Thank you, Kristoffer, and good morning, everyone. As Kristoffer already mentioned, the quarter was negatively impacted by lower variable revenues compared to the same quarter last year. And this was mainly an effect of the overall and very slow European transaction market. The work to adapt the organization and to reduce costs during last year, as well as the beginning of this year, continues to be seen in our numbers. And this is the main driver behind partially offsetting the significant drop in revenues. Looking below the EBIT line, we had significant FX headwinds during the quarter, as the Swedish krona strengthened against the Euro and Danish krona. Same period last year, we had the opposite effect, which resulted in positive FX effects of 49 million. Whereas this quarter, it ended at negative 24 million, leading to a delta of 73 million year over year. Besides negative FX revaluation effects, actual cost for current debt increase has an effect of increased market rates, mainly as average interest on the outstanding bond increased compared to last year. Altogether, this led to a net loss of 33 million or 9 million, if you will adjust the figures for FX. Continuing to page six, looking at our balance sheet and financial position, our balance sheet and liquidity remains strong and thus enables opportunistic investments as well as continued investments into our current project pipeline. As mentioned, we've started looking into establishing a green bond framework. This to enable us to issue green debt when we start to review the refinancing of our existing outstanding bond maturing in March 25. I'd like to remind you when looking at our balance sheet that the overall majority of our liabilities are related to development projects and principal investments. These projects are in turn valued at cost. So hypothetically, If all our projects were divested today at cost, our net debt would be negative after adding cash, i.e. holding more cash than our financial obligations. Since development projects are treated differently depending on Contela's ownership, we've provided this slide as well to help you your understanding as well. End of quarter, we had an equity ratio of 35%, and our cash position was some 950 million, up from 800 million at year end. And thus, we continue to have a balance sheet strength and available liquidity going forward. Additionally, after quarter ended, we entered into a new additional senior financing on Cactus of 50 million. The new credit is an effect of cactus now being treated as a stabilized asset and in conjunction we will be released from all parent guarantees on the senior loans the debt will be primarily used to repay more expensive financing with that said i'll hand back over to you christopher thank you michelle great um so before we conclude and open up for q a um i'd like to summarize the quarter again

from our perspective on slide 18. The market environment continues to be uncertain, but as we said, with some optimism, you could envisage a slow market recovery from the current levels as pricing is starting to stabilize and the swap rates indicate further interest rate reductions. You can see a little bit of market activity and a lot more discussions picking up. Obviously, the current market backdrop has had an impact on all of our business areas in the last 18 months or so. And since we began experiencing a sharp decline in market activity, we have initiated and continue to execute a number of initiatives to increase efficiency, digitalize our operations, merge operations, and to reduce costs. Of course, the effects of our efforts cannot fully mitigate the effects of the sharp decline in market activity, especially the material effects of lower transaction-based fees and the absence of performance-based fees. This quarter was the last quarter where we have those types of comparables. And we will look now in the coming quarters really to look at quarter-over-quarter consistent improvements, expanding our fixed margins, and continue to work on our AUM and transaction volumes. It has led what we have done to a strong financial position, as Michelle mentioned, with preserved liquidity. And moreover, it has put Cattell in a stronger position, taking necessary actions with a lower cost base and higher fixed fee income to grow profitably when the market does begin to recover. The merger of our two fund platforms is another important piece So the puzzle of increased efficiency and positioning for growth. We're creating one combined 10 billion euro fund platform with a more efficient function for capital raising, more coordinated investor relations, and stronger management and research operations. And finally, our development projects, our investment projects, continue to run according to our expectations. And we've retained our assets under management over the last year, both. signs of strength and resilience in a challenging market. There are no easy wins at the moment, but we're doing, I think, the right things operationally and strategically, and we look ahead with some cautious optimism as the market begins to recover. With that, I would like to thank you all for listening and open it up for questions.