Significant decline in sales and earnings at Corestate

Corestate Capital Holding S.A. generated sales of 95.6 million euros (previous year: 121 million) in the first half of 2020. The operating result (EBITDA) slumped by more than 60% to 25.9 million (previous year: 68.9 million). The bottom line was an adjusted net profit of 11.4 million (previous year: 47.8 million).

According to Corestate management, these figures reflect "the shifts in investor risk appetite in the transaction market caused by Covid-19 and the accompanying temporary drag on revenue from warehousing, alignment capital and performance-based fees."

The core business, real estate assets under management, had increased organically by 3.4% to 24.9 billion. Fund assets under management, which also include non-real estate assets, were put at 28.2 billion as of June 30, 2020. The Group's subsidiary Helvetic Financial Services (HFS) was unaffected by the crisis, with mezzanine fund volumes exceeding 1.3 billion and delivering stable margins and earnings.

Net financial debt was 530 million at the end of June (previous year: 607 million) and is expected to be reduced significantly to below 400 million in the coming quarters through the planned placement of co-investments and warehousing assets. The gearing ratio, i.e. the ratio of net financial debt to EBITDA, was 4.0x at the end of the half-year. Based on the planned debt reduction, the company confirms the medium-term target corridor of 2x to 3x.

Corestate already downgraded its outlook for the year in April; given the ongoing global uncertainty from the Covid 19 pandemic, the company does not yet feel able to provide a forecast for the current fiscal year, even as it presents its half-year figures. However, the Company expects investor sentiment to improve in the fourth quarter. As soon as a resilient planning is possible, Corestate will publish a new financial outlook for 2020. (bw)