Unibail-Rodamco, Europe's largest publicly traded property company, reported a 2.6% decline in earnings in 2011, largely due to lower sales and the pay-out of a special dividend in October 2010.
Unibail-Rodamco, Europe's largest publicly traded property company, reported a 2.6% decline in earnings in 2011, largely due to lower sales and the pay-out of a special dividend in October 2010.
Earnings per share fell to EUR 9.03 from EUR 9.27 a year earlier. 'This is ahead of our expectations of a drop of 3 to 5% this year,' CEO Guillaume Poitrinal said during a presentation of the full-year 2011 results.
As a result of asset sales, Unibail Rodamco reported a EUR 67 mln decline in net rental income from its retail portfolio. This was, however, offset by the acquisition of new centres such as Splau! in Barcelona, Galeria Mokotow in Warsaw and Aupark in Bratislava, which contributed EUR 47 mln last year, and by new deliveries, which added some EUR 8 mln. Like-for-like growth accounted for an extra EUR 35 mln of net rental income.
For 2012, the company is forecasting a 4% increase in recurring earnings per share, while for the period 2013-2015 annual growth is put at 5 to 7% on average.
With a loan to value of 37%, Unibail said it will finance its massive development pipeline - EUR 6.9 bn over the next five years - largely through disposals and not through bank debt, with the aim of remaining below the 40% LTV ratio.
'We have a lot of flexibility, we have more flexibility than ever, and flexibility is the key of the years ahead,' Poitrinal said.
Unibail's EUR 25.9 bn portfolio gained 3.6% in value on a like-for-like basis in 2011, or EUR 734 mln, driven mainly by retail rental growth.
