Winmarkt contributes 30 percent of total rent increase, but owners plan to sell local assets

Newsroom 07/12/2009 | 15:47

The local properties are still a focus for the company, but while its “commitment to Romania has been confirmed, apart from some relatively small disposals, we believe management would consider an exit at the right price,” read a recent report from brokerage firm Intermonte. IGD would consider selling four shopping centers and an office building in Romania, as part of its disposal plan.

The disposals in Romania indicated in the business plan are worth EUR 20 to 25 million and will come around the end of 2010 and 2011, with a capital gain of around EUR 5 million. “We understand that today the rental revenue attached to these assets is around EUR 2 million,” reported Intermonte. This entire disposal plan should bring it around EUR 70 million in cashings by 2013. IGD owns 15 Winmarkt shopping centers in Romania, as well as an office building.

As far as consumption is concerned, in Italy the management expects it to recover through the plan, but without reaching pre-crisis levels (i.e. growing less than GDP), while for Romania even more conservative assumptions have been made, with consumption expected to recover at a pace “well below” that of GDP. Finally, a flat EUR/RON exchange rate has been assumed, 4.2 until 2013 from 4.27 at the moment.

On the revenue side, Intermonte has revised rents from Romania slightly downwards for 2009 and 2010 following the announcement of the nine-month results. The company posted a EUR 14.7 million profit for the first nine months, down from the EUR 41 million in the same period of last year. The Italian group has EUR 894 million of debt. Most of the figure, some EUR 726 million, is made up of long-term debt, while short-term liabilities represent EUR 149 million.

Corina Saceanu