Significant increase in earnings at Mobimo

The 2021 financial year was "very successful in terms of operations and strategy", Mobimo announced when presenting its annual results. The third-party development business generated a substantial contribution to earnings, the rental business is on a growth path and significant acquisitions have once again strengthened the investment portfolio and the development pipeline.

The real estate company reports an operating profit (EBIT) of CHF 194.7 million for 2021 (previous year 145.8 million), or 141.3 million (previous year 111.5 million) excluding revaluation. Profit including revaluation is reported to be 139.4 million (previous year 96.6 million), excluding revaluation 96.3 million (previous year 69.7 million). The dividend is expected to be CHF 10.00 per share. The value of the real estate portfolio as of the reporting date at the end of 2021 was 3.6 billion (previous year 3.4 billion).

Well-filled pipeline

According to Mobimo, income from development and sale of promotion (properties) amounted to 58.5 million (previous year: 36.8 million) and was mainly generated by the sale of the Cosmos project in the Zurich conurbation, for which planning permission has been granted. Development activities for third parties will continue to contribute 15 million to 20 million to the annual result, the company said. In mid-December, the company acquired a 12,000 sqm development site in the Zurich agglomeration municipality of Wangen-Brüttisellen; the pipeline thus comprises a project volume of 1.1 billion. In the case of the investment properties that Mobimo is currently planning for its own investment portfolio, the future investment volume amounts to 460 million.

Net rental income rose from 105.1 million to 112.5 million. According to the company, this growth was due not only to successful lettings and additional rental income from newly acquired commercial properties, but also to a significantly less pronounced "covid effect": while rental income in 2020 differed by 6.5 million from the amount owed, the support measures for tenants in the catering, hotel and retail sectors only had an impact of around 1.0 million in the year under review. The vacancy rate of the investment portfolio decreased from 5.5% to 4.8% at the end of 2021. Income from revaluation amounts to 53.3 million compared to 34.3 million in the previous year.

In 2022, the focus will be on planning and implementing the projects in the pipeline, realizing the construction projects and further optimizing the investment portfolio, Mobimo said. The company intends to continue taking advantage of the low interest rate environment to keep financing costs low in the long term. (ah)