Peach Property: After-tax result almost quadrupled

Earnings before taxes rose from 17.0 million in the previous year to 51.5 million. Peach Property cites the massive expansion of the existing portfolio, asset management and higher rental income and letting successes as the reasons for the increase. One-off effects, in particular currency gains of 7 million, also had a positive impact on the result.

In the reporting period, the residential portfolio increased to around 7,000 units with a living space of just under 445,000 sqm (previous year: 3,129 units, 210,000 sqm). In total, more than 3,800 residential units were acquired in the 2017 financial year, of which around 2,400 units were also transferred in 2017. Purchases were made in German B cities such as Oberhausen and Duisburg (1,114 units) as well as in the greater Bielefeld area, Bochum, Kaiserslautern, Hesse and Thuringia.

Due to the acquisitions and a reduction in the vacancy rate from 20.3% to 16.3%, rental income rose by almost 83% year-on-year to 16.3 million in 2017. The annualized target rental income of all notarized units even increased by 109% to 34 million. The market value of existing properties doubled from 226 million to 452 million, while the market value of the overall portfolio rose by 58% year-on-year to 520 million in 2017.

Development portfolio shrinks

Peach Property also announced that more than 80 percent of the apartments in the "Wollerau Park" project near Zurich had been sold by the end of 2017. Further notarizations followed at the beginning of 2018, meaning that around 90 percent of the units have now been sold. The first handovers have been taking place since February. The building application for the "Peninsula" project in Wädenswil is scheduled for March of this year. The projects in Germany, above all "yoo berlin" and "H36" in Hamburg, were completed in 2017. With the exception of one apartment in Berlin, all apartments have been sold and handed over to their owners, according to the company.

Equity at market value increased by over 100 million to 272.2 million as at the reporting date of December 31, 2017 (previous year: 165.3 million). According to IFRS, the figures are 258.5 million and 148.9 million respectively. The equity ratio at market value was 42.8% in the reporting period. The NAV (market value) per share increased from CHF 23.25 to CHF 30.38.

Peach Property Group expects a significant increase in rental income in 2018 due to the 2017 acquisitions alone. The share of the development portfolio will continue to decrease.

Peach Property Group AG has its headquarters in Zurich and the German Group headquarters in Cologne and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. The Board of Directors comprises Reto Garzetti (Chairman), Peter Bodmer and Dr. Christian De Prati.