Mobimo: Devaluations cloud half-year results
In the first half of 2023, the real estate company increased its income from rentals as well as from developments and sales, but recorded a devaluation of investment properties for the first time.
Mobimo posted a solid operating result in the first half of 2023: Rental income rose by CHF 7.3% compared with the previous year (CHF 60.0 million) to CHF 64.4 million. For the first time, however, there was a devaluation of CHF -9.3 million on the investment properties, which corresponds to CHF -0.27% of the portfolio value.
The operating result (EBIT) excluding revaluation amounted to CHF 60.1 million (previous year: CHF 49.8 million) or CHF 50.8 million including revaluation (previous year: CHF 81.4 million). Net profit excluding revaluation rose from CHF 39.1 million to CHF 43.1 million, while net profit including revaluation fell significantly from CHF 63.5 million to CHF 34.3 million.
Rents will be increased
According to the real estate company, the fact that Mobimo was able to increase its rental income is partly due to the "consistently market-oriented management" of current and new tenancies. The increase in the first half of the year was based on like-for-like growth of 1.3% and was also characterized by special effects in individual commercial leases.
In Zurich, Mobimo has built a total of 216 apartments in the Manegg and Tiergarten projects. The property in Manegg was completed in the first quarter and is fully let, meaning that it already made a small contribution to rental income in the reporting period. In the second half of the year, the income from the apartments in Tiergarten and the commercial property Les Jumeaux in Lausanne, which are also fully let, will be added to the income statement, Mobimo announces.
Mobimo will generate further growth from rent increases: The predominantly index-linked commercial rents have been adjusted in line with inflation, and the increase in the reference interest rate for residential rents will be passed on with the inflation and cost compensation.
Success from development and sales increases
Income from developments and sales (properties) climbed from CHF 3.8 million in the previous year to CHF 9.0 million in the reporting period. In the Aura project in Horgen on Lake Zurich, nine condominium apartments were notarized in the first half of the year, meaning that 35 of 37 units have been sold. Completion is planned for mid-2024.
With the Edenblick project in Oberägeri (ZG), Mobimo is constructing ten buildings with a total of 90 condominium apartments. Marketing started towards the end of the first half of the year and 29 apartments have already been reserved.
Devaluation of commercial and office space
According to Mobimo, the lower prices in the commercial and office sectors led to a slight devaluation of the portfolio by CHF 9.3 million, following an appreciation of CHF 31.5 million in the prior-year period. Accordingly, the residential and development sectors made a positive contribution to the valuation, and appreciation gains on investment properties under construction noticeably cushioned the corrections in the commercial and office space portfolio. The value of the overall portfolio is CHF 3.7 billion. (ah)
