Trading Statement

RNS Number : 9845T

Sirius Real Estate Limited

04 April 2016

 

Sirius Real Estate Limited

("Sirius" or "the Company" or "the Group")

Trading Statement and Directorate Change

Sirius Real Estate, the leading operator of branded business parks providing conventional space and flexible workspace in Germany, is pleased to announce the following trading statement for the twelve months to 31 March 2016.

Trading Update

This has been another strong year for Sirius, which has seen annualised rental income exceed €60 million for the first time as at 31 March 2016.  The Group is also in advanced stages of negotiating more favourable terms on its largest debt facility including securing further funding at a significantly lower interest rate. The Company expects the results for the 12 months to 31 March 2015 to be in line with market expectations and is well positioned to make a strong start to the new financial year. We anticipate good ongoing growth in rental income next year and beyond as we continue with our capital investment programme and with making selective acquisitions.

The main highlights of the period include:

·     In October 2015 the Company completed two acquisitions, a second multi-let business park located in Aachen and a site in CöllnParc, Cologne. This completed the acquisition portfolio, announced on 4 June 2015. These two sites together, added €2.0m to the rent roll and €1.9m to Net Operating Income ("NOI") on an annualised basis.

·    On 30 March 2016, Sirius completed a further acquisition of a business park in Mainz for €25.1m including acquisition costs which will add a further €2.2m to the rent roll and €2.0m ‎to NOI. This acquisition was partly funded ‎by a new €16.0m 5-year facility from Deutsche Genossenschafts-Hypothekenbank AG with a fixed interest rate of 1.58% for the full term.

·    The Company is in advanced discussions to refinance its existing BerlinHyp/PBB facility which has €111m outstanding and three years remaining of its term. Under discussion is a new €137m facility with the existing syndicate at an improved interest rate and extended term. The new facility would provide an additional €26m debt capacity which the Company would use for acquisitions.

·    The Company has notarised two new business park acquisitions in Krefeld and Markgröningen which are expected to complete in  May  2016.  These  two  assets  will  add a  further  €2.5m  to 
annualised rental income and €2.0m to NOI.

·    The Company's capital investment programme continues to be the strongest driver of organic rental growth. At 31 March 2016 around 65% of the original programme to transform approximately 100,000 sqm of previously unlettable or under-rented space has been completed. This, along with the capital investment programmes initiated on recent acquisition sites and on space returned through terminations in the first half of this financial year, is expected to have a positive impact on the like-for-like rents in the period.

Directorate Change

·    The Company also announces that Rolf Elgeti, a non-executive director, has decided to step down from the Board from today. Rolf has been a key member of the Board since joining in 2011 and has played a significant role in developing and implementing the growth strategy of Sirius.

The Board would like to thank Rolf for his valuable contribution and looks forward to providing a more detailed report on the Company's performance and outlook when it announces its full year results for the twelve months to 31 March 2016 at the end of May.

Andrew Coombs, CEO of Sirius Real Estate, commented:

"This has been another good year for Sirius. Prevailing market conditions remain supportive for the business. The German economy is robust and we continue to capitalise on the low interest rate environment to reduce our cost of debt significantly, diversify our lenders and extend the weighted average expiry of our funding. In addition, by investing in our assets to increase rental income and with ongoing reductions in non-recoverable service charge costs, the Company continues to enhance cash flows, improve asset values and increase its funds from operations.

The combination of these factors mean we will deliver on target for this year and are well placed for the new financial year."

Enquiries:

Sirius Real Estate                         

Andrew Coombs, CEO                                                                          [phone]

Alistair Marks, CFO

Peel Hunt - Nomad and Joint Broker

Capel Irwin                                                                                             [phone]

George Huntley

PSG Capital

David Tosi                                                                                              [phone]

Willie Honeyball

Canaccord Genuity Limited - Joint Broker

Bruce Garrow                                                                                        [phone]

Chris Connors

Mark Whitmore 

Novella                                     

Tim Robertson                                                                                       [phone]
Ben Heath    

 

END

 

 

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