Novavest: Devaluations lead to loss in H1
Excluding valuations, Novavest said it had achieved a "pleasing operating result in a challenging market environment". However, the revaluation led to a net loss of CHF 1.5 million.
In the first half of the year, Novavest sold an older residential and commercial property in Bülach (ZH) at a profit. The sale and completion of a project to convert space in the property in Neuhausen (SH) increased the residential share of target rental income by around 2 percentage points to 63% compared with the end of 2022. The value of the real estate portfolio was CHF 791.0 million as at June 30 (31.12.2022: CHF 811.8 million). The annualized target rental income from investment properties increased from CHF 30.9 million to CHF 31.4 million.
Net rental income rose by 7% to CHF 15.3 million in the first half of the year. This was primarily due to the acquisitions of the properties in Volketswil (ZH) in June 2022 and Kappel (SO) in December as well as the completed conversion projects in Lucerne (2022) and Neuhausen (2023). The gross yield achieved on the investment properties in the first half of 2023 was 4.0%, while the annualized net yield was 3.1%. The vacancy rate has fallen from 4.6TP3T to 4.0% since the end of the year due to lettings and the sale of the property in Bülach.
Portfolio devalued by CHF 10 million
According to Novavest, the increases in key interest rates had a significant impact on the discounting models used for property valuations. This led to a revaluation loss of CHF 10.0 million, compared to a revaluation gain of CHF 6.4 million in the prior-year period. This depressed EBIT in the first half of the year to CHF 0.1 million (H1 2022: CHF 15.4 million). Excluding the effects of the revaluation, however, the operating result increased by 13% to CHF 10.1 million. However, Novavest reported a loss of CHF 1.5 million including revaluation, following a profit of CHF 11.2 million in H1 2022. Profit excluding revaluation increased by 9% to CHF 6.6 million.
The equity ratio has decreased only slightly since the end of 2022, from 42.0 to 41.6%. Current and non-current mortgage liabilities amounted to CHF 432.4 million as at June 30 (31.12.2022: CHF 439.8 million). (aw)
