| Full Year results for the year ended 31 December 2012PLAZA REPORTS STRONG OPERATIONAL PROGRESS WITH IMPROVED PORTFOLIO OCCUPANCY Plaza Centers N.V. (“Plaza" / “Company" / “Group"), a leading property developer and investor with operations in Central and Eastern Europe (“CEE") and India, today announces its full year results for the year ended 31 December 2012. Financial highlights: • Reduction in total assets to €958 million (31 December 2011: €1.3 billion), primarily due to the disposal of the Company’s US assets of €263 million • Increase of 45.3% in the value of completed trading properties due to the completion of Kragujevac Plaza and Koregaon Park Plaza • Book value of the Company’s landbank reduced by 11% over the year, or by €60 million, primarily due to impairments recorded mainly within the Romanian and Hungarian land portfolio • Increase in gross revenue of 77% to €41.6 million (2011; €23.5 million) due to additional rental income received during the year from shopping centres completed and opened to the public during 2012 and late 2011. (The rental income along with all other elements related to the disposed US operation in the Financial Statements as of 31 December 2011 were restated due to reclassification of income and expenses from discontinued operations) • Net Asset Value decreased by 24% to €459 million (31 December 2011: €601 million) primarily through the impairment of assets in Romania and Hungary • Net Asset Value per share of £1.26 (31 December 2011: £1.69), a decline of 25%, attributable mainly to the above mentioned impairments • Loss for the year of €85.9 million (31 December 2011: €13.9 million profit), which stems from a non-cash €79 million impairment of trading properties, of which 59% related to impairments of assets in Hungary and Romania and an overall net finance cost of €16.5 million compared to a net finance income of €74 million of 2011. The prior year finance income figure of €74 million was based on the substantial decrease in fair value debentures and related foreign exchange gains measured through the profit or loss account • Basic and diluted loss per share of €0.29 (31 December 2011: €0.03 earnings per share) • Cash position at year end (including restricted bank deposits, short term deposits and available for sale financial assets) of €102 million (31 December 2011: €108 million) with working capital of €558 million (31 December 2011: €585 million); current cash position of circa €90 million • Gearing reduced to 53% (31 December 2011: 59%) through a €138 million repayment of debt including assumption of part of bank loans related to US assets • (On 20 November 2012, the Board approved the extension of the Company’s second bond buyback programme of A and B series Notes traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The bond buyback programme will conclude by 31 December 2014 with a maximum amount to be purchased of up to NIS 600 million, increased from NIS 150 million. Under the two bond buyback schemes (the first was concluded on 28 November 2011 in which the target of NIS 150 million was fully executed), Plaza has to date repurchased and cancelled NIS 38.6 million par value of its A and B series bonds and an additional NIS 232 million of par value A and B bonds have been re-purchased and held in treasury through the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary. As of 31 December 2012 the outstanding amount was NIS 181 million par value, as a result of bond repayments. Operational highlights: • Improved occupancy levels achieved across the Company’s existing shopping and entertainment centres, with the overall portfolio occupancy rate increasing from 85% in 2011 to 88.5% as at the reporting date, with the following notable successes; o At Torun Plaza, Poland, occupancy increased to 84% (2011: 80%) o At Suwalki Plaza, Poland, occupancy to 90% (2011: 89%) o At Zgorzelec Plaza, Poland, occupancy increased to 89% (2011: 79%), in addition to a 14% increase in footfall compared to the prior year o At Liberec Plaza, Czech Republic, occupancy increased to 80% (2011: 78%) o At Riga Plaza, Latvia, occupancy increased to 94% (2011: 90%) and footfall by 21% on a year-on-year basis • The construction of Plaza’s first retail scheme in Serbia, Kragujevac Plaza, was completed and opened to the public on 20 March 2012. The 22,000 sqm GLA centre was 90% let on opening and a further 8% of space has been let since with strong interest expressed in the remaining units. Early trading has been extremely encouraging with over 3,000,000 visitors in its first year of operation • In June 2012, EPN Group, Plaza’s US based joint venture, completed the sale of 47 of its 49 US based assets to BRE DDR Retail Holdings LLC, a joint venture between Blackstone Real Estate and DDR Corp. in a transaction valued at US$1.428 billion. The transaction generated a gross cash inflow of circa US$120 million (€92 million) to the Company before taxes and transaction costs • In July EPN Group completed the disposal phase of the Company’s highly successful first venture in to the US with the sale of its two remaining US assets for US$41.8 million out of which US$13 million was settled by assumption of debt. The transaction generated a gross cash inflow of circa US$6.6 million (€5 million) to the Company • Phase one of the Kharadi Plaza project known as “Matrix One", a 50:50 joint venture with a local partner, was completed in February 2012. Located in Pune, India, ‘Matrix One’, a 28,000 sqm GLA office, was 70% pre-sold upon opening. The construction of the second office building, out of a total of four offices planned for the development, commenced in Q3 2012 and 37% of the space available has been pre-sold to date Key highlights since the period end: • On 8 March 2013 the Company has received a notification that the ING Open Pension Fund of Poland (with assets under management of over 15 billion Euros) has increased its stake from 9.8% to 11.8% (representing 35,075,662 shares) in the Company, demonstrating its confidence in the Company Commenting on the results, Ran Shtarkman, the President and CEO of Plaza Centers, said: “Plaza has achieved a number of operational successes during the year through the opening of shopping centres in new markets for the Company , including Serbia and India, as well as achieving significant improvements in occupancy levels over the year, which at the reporting date stands at 88.5% compared to 85% at the end of 2011. This improvement has arisen through the leveraging of the deep relationships we have created with retailers over a number of years, many of whom we have helped introduce into new geographies. Furthermore, during the year we completed the disposal of EPN Group’s, our US based joint venture, entire portfolio of US assets. This generated gross proceeds of USD$ 120 million, an excellent return on the USD$82 million of equity invested, generated in less than two years, bringing to a close a highly successful first venture into the US market for the Company. “We continue to evaluate our extensive development pipeline, which we believe offers substantial opportunities for the future. However, in the short term, we cannot ignore the impact, potential or actual, of the ongoing issues of the Eurozone on the economies in which we operate. We will therefore continue to take a prudent and pragmatic approach to committing significant equity to commence new projects. This being said, we continue to progress a limited number of projects in the most resilient countries of the CEE, such as Poland and Serbia, where GDP growth and forecasts remain above the averages for Europe. During the year, we have been especially pleased with the success of Kragujevac Plaza in Serbia, the first shopping and entertainment centre to be built outside the capital, Belgrade, which has attracted over 3,000,000 visitors in its first year of trading. This notable achievement gives us real confidence for the remainder of our carefully considered Serbian development programme. “In our efforts to best position the Company against this ongoing economic and market uncertainty, we made good progress during the year in our ambitions to deleverage, reducing our level of debt by €138 million or from 59% to 53% of the balance sheet, and our intention is to reduce this further over the coming year. We will continue to develop selectively where we see the strongest tenant demand and where development financing can be secured, ensuring we appropriately de-risk our development pipeline." For further details please contact: Plaza Ran Shtarkman, President and CEO Roy Linden, CFO +36 1 462 7221 +36 1 462 7222 FTI Consulting Stephanie Highett/Daniel O’Donnell +44 20 7831 3113 Notes to Editors Plaza Centers N.V. (www.plazacenters.com) is a leading property developer and investor with operations in Central and Eastern Europe, India and the USA. It focuses on constructing new centres and, where there is significant redevelopment potential, redeveloping existing centres in both capital cities and important regional centres. The Company is dual listed on the Main Board of the London Stock Exchange and, as of 19 October 2007, the Warsaw Stock Exchange (LSE:"PLAZ", WSE: “PLZ/PLAZACNTR"). Plaza Centers N.V. is an indirect subsidiary of Elbit Imaging Ltd. (“EI"), an Israeli public company whose shares are traded on both the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in Israel and the NASDAQ Global Market in the United States. Plaza Centers is a member of the Europe Israel Group of companies which is controlled by its founder, Mr Mordechay Zisser. It has been active in real estate development in emerging markets for over 17 years. Forward-looking statements This press release may contain forward-looking statements with respect to Plaza Centers N.V. future (financial) performance and position. Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections of Plaza Centers N.V. and information currently available to the company. Plaza Centers N.V. cautions readers that such statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and therefore it should be understood that many factors can cause actual performance and position to differ materially from these statements. Plaza Centers N.V. has no obligation to update the statements contained in this press release, unless required by law. | |
