Dutch retail specialist Eurocommercial has appointed chief financial officer Evert Jan van Garderen as its new CEO to succeed Jeremy Lewis when the latter retires in November 2020.
In a statement announcing its third-quarter results ended 31 March, Eurocommercial also said it has decided to reduce the base salaries of all members of the management board by 20% for three months as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
‘The first two months of our third quarter were strong but of course the Covid-19 pandemic seriously affected turnover and footfall in the second half of March. Nonetheless the quarter results overall were solid,’ said Eurocommercial’s CEO, Jeremy Lewis. ‘The bright spot in our portfolio is Sweden (22% by asset value) where all our centres have remained open with footfall only about 25% down.’
He added: ‘The level of sales turnover in our centres and therefore rents for the rest of the year is very difficult to predict but our current estimates suggest little likelihood of financial distress for the group given the quality of our centres and our famously low occupancy cost ratios.’
Earnings for the nine-month period to 31 March 2020 came in lower at €87.6 mln due to a €2.7 mln reduction in rental income for March related to the Covid-19 pandemic. They compare to €89.6 mln for the nine months to 31 March 2019.
