Annual Financial Report 07/08 Mission Statement
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT 07/08 MISSION STATEMENT Leasinvest Real Estate SCA is a diversified public real estate investment trust, listed on Euronext Brussels, that invests in high-quality and well-situated office, logistics and retail buildings, in Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Through diversification of its portfolio, the real estate investment trust wants to achieve a rental yield in line with market performance, an acceptable dividend level and potential capital gains. Investor profile Leasinvest Real Estate’s investor profile consists of private investors, mainly in Belgium, and institutional investors in Belgium and abroad looking for acceptable dividend prospects in combination with limited risks in the medium term. This annual financial report is a registration docu- ment in the sense of art. 28 of the Law of 16/06/06 on the public offering of investment instruments and the admission to trading of investment instruments on a regulated market. The version in Dutch has been ap- De Nederlandstalige versie van het jaarlijks financieel proved by the CBFA in accordance with art. 23 of the verslag is beschikbaar op de zetel van de vennootschap, aforementioned law, on 04/07/09. op eenvoudige aanvraag en kan gedownload worden Leasinvest Real Estate has chosen Dutch as its official van de website www.leasinvest.be (financiële verslagen language, and only the Dutch version of the annual fi- – jaarresultaten). nancial report forms legal evidence. The French and English versions are translations of the Dutch version Le rapport financier annuel en français peut être ob- of the annual financial report. The annual financial tenu au siège de la société et peut être téléchargé du report was translated under the responsibility of site internet www.leasinvest.be (rapports financiers Leasinvest Real Estate. – résultats annuels). 1 Risk factors 4 Important events in the development of Leasinvest Real Estate 10 2 Letter to the shareholders 12 3 Key fi gures 16 4 Corporate Governance 20 5 Management report 34 Contents Important events during and after the closing of the fi nancial year 35 Comments to the consolidated balance sheet and income statement 37 Dividend 38 Outlook 38 6 Real estate report 42 Real estate market 43 Real estate portfolio: overview & analysis 47 7 Financial statements 64 Consolidated annual accounts & notes 65 Statutory annual accounts 103 8 Leasinvest Real Estate on the stock exchange 106 Financial calendar 107 Shareholder structure 107 Key fi gures of the share on the stock exchange 108 Analysts’ coverage 109 9 Glossary 110 10 General information 114 Company profi le Leasinvest Real Estate 115 Company profi le Leasinvest Immo Lux 118 11 Articles of association 120 12 Statements 132 avenue Louise 250, Brussels 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Risk factors Leasinvest Real Estate Annual fi nancial report 07-08 5 Leasinvest Real Estate’s objective is to manage a profi table this will only have a limited impact on the results of 2009. and diversifi ed real estate portfolio in Belgium and in the The rents have, on average, remained relatively steady for Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, generating recurring rental Leasinvest Real Estate and in case of renegotiations, rental and dividend income, and possibly resulting in capital gains incentives are, as usual, negotiated by the tenants. The in the long term. Our strategy consequently consists of lim- quality of the tenants is very good, as until present, no ar- iting or excluding as much as possible the risks mentioned rears of the rents to be paid have been recorded. below, namely: Furthermore, the fi nancial crisis could have a possible neg- ative impact in the fi nancial world, on the activities of and • economical risk = by being a diversifi ed real estate the need for offi ce space of banks and fi nancial institutions. investment trust according to asset class and with an This could be particularly the case in the Grand Duchy of important geographical breakdown across Belgium and Luxembourg, which is pre-eminently a fi nancial centre, and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg; where Leasinvest Real Estate has tenants in fi nancial and • real estate market risk = by maintaining an occupancy related sectors. As to our tenants portfolio in Luxembourg rate as high as possible, even in diffi cult economical we need to point out that due to the initiated diversifi cation times; into retail (shops in Strassen, Diekirch and Foetz) and distri- • rental and credit risk = by aiming at a well spread tenant bution (CFM-site), on the one hand, and the very well-situ- base with good credit risk, of which tenants are loyal to ated locations of our offi ce buildings on the other hand, this the real estate investment trust and therefore guarantee risk seems rather limited. Currently no rental contracts have a recurrent rental income stream; been terminated and we have a nearly 100% occupation • renovation and maintenance risk of the buildings = by of all buildings. The activities of our tenants in the bank- technically well maintaining the buildings and making ing and fi nancial sectors relate to mainly private banking them respond completely to the technical needs of the and asset management, which have possibly decreased tenants; in terms of assets under management, but remain highly • fi nancing, liquidity and cash fl ow risk = by a suffi cient profi table and justify a presence in Luxembourg. Besides spread of shareholders’ equity and debts, resulting in a the Luxembourg government has always followed a pro- limited debt ratio; active economical policy to constantly keep its economy at • interest rate risk = by covering a maximum of the vari- a competitive level with the surrounding countries. able interest rate positions; • and not be exposed to an exchange rate risk. All countries in the world will suffer from this fi nancial and economical world crisis. Where probably most countries, Hereafter the above mentioned inherent market and busi- including Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg ness risks and their possible impact on the real estate in- will record a negative growth of the GDP (Gross Domestic vestment trust, and the ways to limit these, are presented Product) in 2009, the real estate markets do not evolve in detail. that negatively in the aforementioned two countries as in most of the surrounding countries, such as the UK, Ireland and Spain. The acquisition of Leasinvest Immo Lux during Risks related to the overall economic the month of March 2006 fi ts within this geographical di- evolution versifi cation. The Grand Duchy currently represents 39% (30/06/07: 31%) of the consolidated real estate portfolio Changes in the economy have an impact on the demand in operation of Leasinvest Real Estate. for available rentable space of our tenants, which are most- ly corporate companies. A poor economic climate leads to a Leasinvest Real Estate limits its sensitivity to the economic reduction in employment and therefore in the demand for cycles not only by geographical diversifi cation, but also by available rentable space. This can result in a higher vacancy a spread across different market segments. Not all types of rate and lower rents. buildings (offi ces, logistics and retail buildings) react in the The recent fi nancial crisis will have a slowing-down effect same way to the economic cycles. The correlation with the on the economy in Belgium and in Luxembourg, of which trend in the economic evolution is the highest for offi ces, we already felt the beginning during the last quarter of followed by logistics buildings and the lowest for retail out- 2008. Three problems could therefore occur in the rental lets. market, namely 1) a lower demand for rentable spaces, The breakdown per asset class of the portfolio in operation mainly offi ces and logistics, 2) lower rents due to a lower of Leasinvest Real Estate on 31/12/08 is spread across the demand/take-up and 3) the bankruptcy of current tenants. different market segments as follows: 63% offi ces, 21% The demand for rentable spaces mainly in the offi ces mar- logistics buildings and 16% retail. ket has decreased in 2008 (see also page 43 of the real estate report), but thanks to the high occupancy rate of During the past fi nancial year Leasinvest Real Estate has Leasinvest Real Estate and the already started negotiations mainly invested in retail and logistics and has invested a for extension of certain rental contracts, it is expected that large part in Luxembourg, and wishes to further extend its Leasinvest Real Estate 6 Annual fi nancial report 07-08 portfolio with offi ce buildings (let on a long-term basis), Thanks to the very good location of our buildings, the pro- logistics and retail buildings, and also in the Grand Duchy of active and dynamic management of the portfolio, and/or Luxembourg, in order to further reduce its sensitivity to the the acquisitions focused on buildings leased at a longer economical cycles. term, Leasinvest Real Estate has succeeded in keeping the occupancy rate of its Belgian portfolio at a rather constant level on 31/12/08, namely 96.2% (30/06/07: 97.0%) Real estate market risk and to increase the occupancy rate of the Luxembourg portfolio on 31/12/08 to 99.2% (30/06/07: 97.03%). The Till end-2007 the demand in the investment market for all consolidated occupancy rate has consequently slightly risen types of buildings remained very high. As from 2008, and from 97.0% to 97.3%. mainly during the last semester of 2008 a turning-point was reached, and due to the consequences of the fi nancial and economical crisis the investment volume in all types Tenant & credit risks of buildings worldwide, and thus also in Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, has fi ercely dropped.