Half Year 2024 Wereldhave NV Earnings Call Transcript
Key Points
- Strong recovery in the Dutch market with retail sales up by 4% and footfall increasing by 5%, and almost 10% for full service centers.
- Positive leasing spreads for the core portfolio at 1%+, indicating stable rental levels.
- Improved balance sheet with a Fitch credit rating of BBB stable, the strongest since 2019.
- Increase in valuations driven by higher ERVs, with a 3%+ rise in the first half of 2024.
- Significant progress in the LifeCentral strategy, with daily life now comprising 67% of the portfolio, enhancing resilience.
- Direct result in the first half of 2024 was impacted by bankruptcies, particularly in Belgium.
- Higher financial expenses in H1, though expected to normalize in H2.
- Occupancy cost ratios have increased slightly, with Belgium and the Netherlands now at 13% and 14%, respectively.
- The French investment market remains very quiet, delaying asset disposals.
- Average financing costs are expected to rise, potentially reaching closer to 4% by year-end.
Good morning and welcome to the Wereldhave first-half 2024 results webcast. Today, I'll talk to you together with our CFO, Dennis de Vreede, to the highlights of the results. As always, you can type your questions in the text box in your screen. Also, during the presentation and towards the end of the presentation, we will deal with the Q&A.
So let's start with the key messages of these results.
If we focus on the operational metrics, I think if we look at the Dutch market, as you know, which has been a tough market for us over the past five, six years. We saw a strong recovery last year, and that is continuing in 2024.
The Dutch retail sales were 4%-plus, that is also above the level of inflation. So we have also seen volume growth for several of our retailers. I think that is also the result of the improved portfolio quality on the one hand through the disposals that we made in the past couple of years. But also, the new full service center concept that we have created.
Footfall 5%
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