WDP lifts H1 net profit by 11.5%

Closed-end property investment company Warehouses de Pauw (WDP) reported net profit increased by a higher-than-expected 11.5% to EUR13.9 mln in the first six months of 2008 from EUR12.5 mln in the year-earlier period. Earnings per share amounted to EUR1.62, up from EUR1.45 in the same period a year ago.

The Belgian company said net profit on its property holdings rose 28% to EUR19.7 mln in the first half, thanks to a higher occupancy rate for the portfolio and indexation of a number of existing leases. Property costs and other overheads amounted to EUR2.5 mln, up 19.9% compared with the year-earlier period. The operating margin remained unchanged at 88.9%.

A negative result of EUR0.45 mln, or EUR0.05 per share, was booked on the portfolio, reflecting limited losses in the Netherlands and France. This was partly offset by a gain of EUR1.5 mln in the second quarter on the delivery of a property in Grimbergen.

The value of WDP’s total property portfolio stood at EUR688.7 mln at end-June, up from EUR643.6 mln at the end of the first quarter. In total, the portfolio generated a gross rental yield of 7.17%. The value of the portfolio in Romania and the Czech Republic remained unchanged. WDP said it expects to be granted its first building permits in Romania in the autumn. Work will begin in early 2009 on the construction of a first project of 30,000 m² on the first of the plots purchased in Ploisti and a second project of 10,000 m² in Fundulea, on the Constanta highway.

Projects totalling EUR93 mln are expected to be completed in the second half of 2008, rising to EUR110 mln by 2009, of which EUR70 mln has been committed to date for the properties in Courcelles I and Nijvel in Belgium; Raamsdonkveer, Ridderkerk and Venlo in the Netherlands; and Seclin in France. To date, 54% of these projects has been pre-let.