Hamburg, May 4, 2020 – alstria office REIT-AG (symbol: AOX, ISIN: DE000A0LD2U1) (“alstria”) announces its result for the first three months of 2020 and provides an update on the current trading circumstances.
Q1 2020: Revenues at EUR 44.3 m and funds from operations (FFO) at EUR 29.4 m
Revenues and operating result (FFO) developed as planned in the first three months of 2020. They were not affected by the COVID-19 related lockdown, which started in Germany on March 23, 2020. Rental income amounted to EUR 44.3 m in the first quarter of 2020, slightly below the level of the first quarter of the previous year (Q1 2019: EUR 46.8 m). The decline of rental income was primarily due to the sale of five properties and the resulting lower rental income as well as planned lease terminations (essentially the Deutsche Telekom lease in Darmstadt).
In contrast, funds from operations increased to EUR 29.4 m or EUR 0.17 per share (Q1 2019: EUR 28.6 m) and are also in line with the Company’s full year guidance of EUR 108 m. The FFO margin improved to 66.3% (Q1 2019: 61.2%) and is testimony to the sustained high profitability of alstria’s real estate operations.
The Company’s consolidated net result amounted to EUR 28.2 m and was down by 48.3% compared to EUR 54.6 m in the first quarter of 2019. The results of the first quarter 2019 were positively impacted by a one-off reversal of accruals for land transfer tax.
EPRA NAV per share up to EUR 18.08
Within the first three months of 2020, alstria’s equity increased by 0.9% to EUR 3,204 m. Accordingly, the Company’s EPRA NAV per share improved to EUR 18.08. The G-REIT equity ratio reached a record high of 71.9% and the Company’s Net LTV improved to 26.1% as of March 31, 2020.
Letting volume and transactions
alstria signed new leases of 29,000 square meters, as well as lease extensions of around 23,400 square meters in the first three months of 2020. alstria continued to strengthen its portfolio quality with the disposal of five assets in peripheral locations with a total value of EUR 82.2 m. These disposals were closed at a premium of 5% on the FY 2019 fair values. No acquisitions were made in the first three months of this year.
Tenant requests for rent suspension amount to EUR 1.9 m as of May 1, 2020
Since the most recent update on the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on April 3, 2020, alstria has received further rent deferral requests from 29 tenants in the amount of approximately EUR 0.4 m. This means that currently 144 tenants in total are temporarily suspending their rent payments in a total amount of EUR 1.9 m per month.
Below we are presenting the current monthly rent roll, grouped according to the perceived resilience to liquidity considerations.
- Government tenants and multi-national corporations (49.3% of current monthly rent):
This includes public sector tenants (representing 26.2% or EUR 3.8 m of monthly rent) and multi-national corporations (23.1% or 3.4 m of monthly rent). In this tenant group alstria has received no requests for a suspension of rent.
- Domestic corporations (25.7% of current monthly rent):
This includes large domestic and mid-size corporates (EUR 3.8 m of monthly rental income). To date, alstria has received requests in that group representing a total monthly rental income of EUR 0.7 m per month.
- SMEs (19.3% of current monthly rent):
This includes mainly SME office tenants (generating EUR 2.8 m of monthly rental income). To date, alstria has received requests in that group representing a total monthly rental income of EUR 0.6 m per month.
- Most affected tenants (5.7% of the current monthly rent):
This includes mainly retail, co-working, hotels, parking operators etc. that are directly and immediately affected by the COVID-19 outbreak (generating EUR 0.8 m of monthly rental income). To date, tenants of this group have asked alstria to suspend their rent payments in the amount of EUR 0.6 m per month.
In accordance with the new legal framework adopted by the German legislator on March 27, 2020, to temporarily suspend rent in the period from April 1 to June 30, 2020, the rent arrears remain fully due and must be paid by June 30, 2022.
To date, alstria has agreed a rent waiver for the three months April to June in favour of 47 tenants. This amounts to a monthly rent waiver of EUR 0.22 m. The waiver was decided on a case-by-case basis and applies mainly to small businesses that were shut down as a consequence of the lockdown. Tenants who benefited from this waiver were tenants with a long history paying their rent on time and had no outstanding rent arrears.
April rental income was in line with expectations, accounting for 89% of the total rent due.
Guidance for the full year 2020 unchanged
Considering that the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on alstria has been limited so far, alstria is not revising its 2020 guidance with expected revenues of around EUR 179 m and an operating result (FFO) of EUR 108 m. However, as currently a reliable assessment of the severity and duration of the expected global recession is not possible, adjustments in the course of the year cannot be completely ruled out.
Strong liquidity position
As of March 31, 2020, alstria had a cash position of EUR 550 m (cash and cash equivalents as well as short term deposits classified as financial assets). An additional credit line of EUR 100 m was drawn on April 2, 2020. Taking into account the operating cash flow and the purchase price inflow of one asset sold, the current cash position of the Company amounts to EUR 678 m. Financial liabilities due (EUR 364 m) and planned investments (EUR 194 m) each in the period 2020/21 are comfortably covered, leaving the company with free liquidity of EUR 120 m. alstria has no further refinancing needs before 2023.
“The impact of the pandemic on alstria has been limited so far. However, it is clear that the longer the situation lasts, the more tenants, regardless of their size, will face liquidity constrains”, says Olivier Elamine, CEO of alstria. “We are however confident that alstria will be able to weather this storm, as the Company entered the pandemic with the strongest balance sheet in its history and sufficient liquidities to cover its financial obligations until early 2023.”
Invitation to the conference call on May 5, 2020
The alstria management board, CEO Olivier Elamine and CFO Alexander Dexne, will present the Q1 results during a conference call at 10:00 am (CEST).
Please use one of the following dial-in numbers:
Germany: +49 69 201 744 220
UK: +44 203 009 2470
PIN: 16691424#
Please note that the management’s presentation will be webcasted on our website www.alstria.com. As soon as the conference call begins, the presentation slides will be available for download.
The Q1 financial report is available on alstria.com/investor/#reports
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