Hili Properties, the owner of ART Business Center, reports an operating profit of EUR 4.4 million in 2017

Newsroom 09/07/2018 | 13:17

Hili Properties plc, the Maltese group that acquired last year the ART Business Center in Bucharest, posted an operating profit of EUR 4.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2017, compared to EUR 3 million in the previous year, a 31 percent increase. Since the end of last year, Hili Properties has developed development activities in Latvia and Romania, pursuing a revenue diversification strategy.

Hili Properties owns and manages commercial properties rented in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Malta and Romania. The diversified portfolio of the company, worth EUR 100 million, includes four office buildings, nine shopping centers and nine properties that host McDonald’s restaurants that belong to Premier Capital plc, McDonald’s development partner in Romania, Malta, Greece and the Baltic countries.

Last year, Hili Properties revenue growth was mainly driven by the acquisition of the ART Business Center in Romania. The acquisition also helped increase net assets from EUR 28.2 million in 2016 to EUR 38.4 million last year. This year’s earnings amounted to EUR 4.5 million, up 48 percent over the year 2016. Thus, the group ended 2017 with a profit of EUR 2 million before tax (versus EUR 2.8 million in 2016). In addition, last year, rental of real estate was 95 percent, and the weighted average lease term for the entire portfolio of the group increased to 9.2 years (from 7.6 years in 2016).

Through a new company, Premier Assets Ltd., Hili Properties will develop properties for McDonald’s and plans to build two new restaurants in Romania over the next three years. For these projects, a total investment of EUR 10 million has been allocated. Hili Properties will also be committed to develop the property that will host the newest EUR 1.5 million McDonald’s restaurant in Latvia.