Zug Estates: Group result rises by almost 30%

The effects of the Covid 19 pandemic also impacted business in the first half of 2021, according to Zug Estates. Many of the gastronomy and retail tenants had to temporarily close their premises due to the renewed lockdown ordered by the authorities. The Hotel & Catering segment also recorded a considerable drop in sales. Nevertheless, rental income increased by 5.6% to 29.8 million (previous year: 28.2 million). According to Zug Estates, the reasons for the increase were the full period effect and rent increases from rental agreements concluded mainly in previous years, as well as the lower negative effects from the Corona pandemic compared to the previous year.

Profit increase in the first half-year

In the first half of the year, the real estate company sold the Hofstrasse 1a/b property in Zug - the last property outside the Metalli and Suurstoffi sites. According to Zug Estates, the pre-tax proceeds from the sale amounted to CHF 7.3 million. Mainly disposal and revaluation effects would have led to a 24.4 million higher net profit of 32.7 million in the first half of 2021. Adjusted for revaluation and special effects, net profit reached CHF 15.4 million.

The market value of the portfolio increased slightly from 1.65bn to 1.67bn. The property portfolio as a whole was valued 12.3m higher, equivalent to around 0.8% of the portfolio value of all investment properties as at 30 June 2021, mainly due to the reduction in discount rates, Zug Estates said.

As at 30 June 2021, the vacancy rate was virtually unchanged at 4.8%, which, according to the real estate company, is primarily due to the initial rental vacancy in Suurstoffi. The vacancy rate adjusted for this effect decreased from 1.5% as at 31 December 2020 to 1.3% as at 30 June 2021. The weighted average remaining lease term (WAULT) is 6.5 years.

For the year as a whole, Zug Estates expects net profit excluding revaluation and special effects to exceed the previous year's figure. (ah)