AFI says NAV up 14.1%, eyes Ukraine, CIS expansion

Cyprus-based AFI Development, which focuses on the Russian real estate market, said its net asset value had risen by 14.1% to $11.20 (EUR 7.09) per share since its IPO in May 2007. The company's full-year pre-tax profit rose to $275.5mln from $113.3mln the previous year. AFI also said its cash position at the year end remains strong and its project financing continues to benefit from the availability of debt financing at reasonable terms.

AFI said it had expanded its strategy beyond Russia to include Ukraine and other CIS states and announced the consolidation all the Russian property assets owned by parent company, Africa Israel Investments into the AFI Development portfolio. This move involves the acquisition of four hotels in Kislovodsk and Zheleznovodsk, plus the acquisition of an additional 20% in the AFI project in Perm from Danya International.

'We are expanding the scope of our operations to Ukraine and other CIS states, where we believe we are well placed to benefit from the considerable potential these dynamic markets present owing to the considerable experience the company's senior management team has built and the strongly complementary characteristics that exist between the Ukrainian real estate sectors and their wider economies,' AFI said in a statement.

Jones Lang LaSalle valued AFI portfolio at $5.2bn at year-end 2007, marking a 15.8% increase in value since the previous valuation end-June and a 41.4% increase since the initial valuation at end-March 2007, prior to the firm's AIM listing, the company said.