HSC Fund grows despite Corona crisis
The HSC Fund increased its real estate portfolio by 18% in the 2020 financial year and achieved a return on investment of 6.9%. Rental income increased by a third.
Helvetica Swiss Commercial Fund (HSC Fund) from Helvetica Property Investors acquired five properties in the cantons of Geneva, Fribourg and Thurgau in 2020, expanding its portfolio by over CHF 110 million. According to a statement, the market value of the portfolio increased by 18% compared to the previous year and amounted to CHF 743.9 million as at December 31, 2020 (previous year: CHF 628.9 million). The annual target rental income rose byTP3T 161.0 million fromTP39.0 million toTP45.4 million, and the occupancy rate stood atTP3T 94.61 million (previous year:TP3T 94.11 million).
According to Helvetica Property Investors, rental income increased by 33% to 38.7 million in the 2020 financial year (previous year: 29.2 million), which was largely due to the acquisitions in the 2019 and 2020 reporting years.
The fund's net income amounted to 27.3 million after 23.0 million in the previous year. The valuation of the portfolio resulted in an unrealized gain of 8.7 million (previous year: 4.9 million), which according to the information provided is mainly due to valuation gains on some newly acquired properties and revaluations on various existing properties. Total income in the reporting period increased byTP3T 111.3 million to 32.4 million (previous year: 29.1 million, including realized capital gains of 2.3 million from the sale of a property).
Fund assets grow by 18%
According to the information provided, total fund assets as at December 31, 2020 amounted to €770.1 million (previous year: €654.7 million, +€181k), while net fund assets after deducting liabilities (€255.0 million) and estimated liquidation taxes (€15.0 million) amounted to €500.2 million (previous year: €489.5 million). The leverage ratio is estimated at 30.5% (31.12.2019: 20.9%). The net asset value per unit reached CHF 115.17, which corresponds to an increase of CHF 2.46 compared to the end of 2019 and after the distribution of CHF 5.00 for the 2019 financial year, according to Helvetica. The distribution for the 2020 financial year is expected to amount to CHF 5.10 per fund unit, which corresponds to a distribution yield of 4.7% on the share price as at December 31, 2020.
The fund, which has virtually no exposure to the hospitality and tourism sector, was only slightly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Helvetica, rent reductions totaling around 0.9 million were granted for the reporting year, which corresponds to around 2% of the target rental income. In some cases, it was possible to agree lease optimizations and term extensions.
In the 2021 financial year, the focus of activities will be on value creation in asset management. The aim is to further increase the occupancy rate and further enhance the attractiveness of the portfolio through cost-conscious investments.
Helvetica also announces the appointment of a new Head of Investment Management, Peer Kocur. Kocur will take up his new position in mid-April 2021 and will strengthen the extended Executive Board of Helvetica Property Investors. The real estate expert has been Head of Portfolio Management Real Estate Switzerland at Migros Pension Fund, which has real estate assets of over CHF 6 billion, since December 2016. Prior to that, he worked as a director at Wüest Partner (2006-2016) and as a portfolio manager at Allianz Real Estate (2003-2006). (ah)
