Novavest Real Estate: Profit plus 20%
Novavest Real Estate reports a profit including revaluation gains of CHF14.3 million for fiscal 2019. This is 20% more than in the previous year.
Profit excluding revaluation gains remained stable at 9.0 million, while operating profit before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased by 19% to CHF 20.5 million (2018: 17.3 million). Net asset value increased by CHF 0.82 to CHF 40.26 in the 2019 reporting year.
The real estate portfolio stood at 554.0 million at the end of 2019. It consists of 36 investment properties with a balance sheet value of 469.2 million and four projects (six properties) worth 84.9 million.
The target rental income from investment properties amounted to 22.4 million per annum in the year under review, compared with 23.0 million in the previous year. The main reason for the decline was the reclassification of the Voltastrasse 2 property in Lucerne, which generated target rental income of around 0.7 million, according to Novavest. The rental income share from residential use of the investment properties amounted to 57% at the end of the year.
Net rental income increased by 10% to 21.5 million in the reporting year (2018: 19.4 million), mainly due to the additional rental income from the "Berner Portfolio", which Novavest acquired in December 2018. The portfolio consists of nine properties.
Novavest puts the net return on investment properties at 3.8% compared to 4.0% in the previous year. The vacancy rate of investment properties (excluding projects) was 5.9%, below the previous year's figure of 6.4%.
According to Novavest, the market valuation of the real estate portfolio resulted in income from revaluation of 6.6 million (2018: 4.2 million). This was due to higher valuations of various investment properties as well as investments and leasing measures.
The Board of Directors proposes a cash distribution of CHF 1.65 per registered share. Based on the closing price as of December 31, 2019, the distribution yield is 3.8%. (ah)
