Residentia increases distribution
UBS's Residentia fund, which focuses on Ticino real estate, increased rental income by 4.0% in 2022, while net income improved by 55%.
The portfolio has been successfully stabilized, UBS Fund Management (Switzerland) reports, which the fund management company had taken over in 2021. The higher net income had contributed to an improvement of the operating cash flow due to the increased rental income, but also due to lower taxes. Now the distribution from cash flow will be increased significantly, namely by around 36% from CHF 2.20 to CHF 3.00. This results in a distribution yield of 3.1%.
Administrative commission halved
In December 2022, the fund management decided to temporarily reduce the flat-rate management commission for Residentia for fiscal years 2023 and 2024 by 50% from 0.72% to 0.36% per annum. This is intended to strengthen the fund's earning power and operating cash flow. The measure is also intended to maintain the flexibility of the product and support the distribution, it says.
Investment return down
Residentia's real estate portfolio comprises a total of 30 properties as of the end of the 2022 financial year. A portfolio property in Cresciano with 13 apartments was acquired. This increased the portfolio volume from CHF 246.7 million to CHF 249.7 million. The net asset value per unit decreased slightly from 116.05 CHF to 115.05 CHF. This decrease was mainly due to value adjustments on two commercial properties, UBS said. Based on last year's distribution and the development of the net asset value, the investment return was 1.2% (previous year: 2.8%). Accumulated vacancies were reduced from 16.0% to 13.2%. (aw)
