Atrium European Real Estate, the Central and Eastern European shopping centre specialist, has announced a pre-tax loss of EUR 924 mln for the year to end-December 2008. This amounts to a loss per share of EUR 3.954. The losses consisted of EUR 276 mln in termination costs to the previous management company, EUR 434 mln in devaluations and an impairment of EUR 231 mln.
Atrium European Real Estate, the Central and Eastern European shopping centre specialist, has announced a pre-tax loss of EUR 924 mln for the year to end-December 2008. This amounts to a loss per share of EUR 3.954. The losses consisted of EUR 276 mln in termination costs to the previous management company, EUR 434 mln in devaluations and an impairment of EUR 231 mln.
The group reported a cash balance of EUR 1.2 bn compared to EUR 1.5 bn in debt. Some EUR 11 mln of the debt matures in 2009, EUR 10 mln in 2010, EUR 714 mln in 2011-2013 and EUR 775 mln in the year 2014 or later.
Atrium said its net rental income grew by 13% to EUR 95 mln (2007: EUR 84 mln) with like-for-like net rental income up 7% to EUR 88 mln (2007: EUR 83 mln). Net asset value per share came to EUR 10.66.
Commenting on the results, Rachel Lavine, CEO of Atrium said: '2008 was an extremely difficult year for global financial markets and economies as a whole. We witnessed unprecedented conditions from which the real estate market has not been immune and this is reflected in the portfolio revaluation and impairment loss on the group's income statement.
'However, the group’s key strengths of its balance sheet, its cash position in particular, and the resilience of our asset class do give me a great deal of confidence in the Atrium’s future and, I believe, set us apart from many other real estate companies. We are not under any pressure from banking covenants and have a cash reserve that gives us the flexibility and firepower to really make the most of the current market conditions.'
