Emirates REIT (CEIC) PLC (REIT) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It is my pleasure to present to you our semi-annual results for the 2022 financial year. After the presentation, which will be done by Sheikh Muhammed Moeen, our Finance Director and I, there will be a Q&A session. As usual, you can ask your questions in writing during the presentation or the Q&A session itself. Note that we would expect people asking questions to identify themselves by name in their question in the event that their log-in e-mail does not allow for such identification. Without further ado, let me start. When we look at the relative performance of the first 6 months of the year compared to the same period last year, all the indicators are either strength positive or for those that appear negative, they are, in fact, positive on a like-for-like basis. The like-for-like basis is something I need to explain at the outset. You will remember that in June '21, Emirates REIT sold half a floor of Index Tower and recorded a one-off profit of $6.5 million. In addition, the half-year results of 2021 were further improved by a reversal of provision relating to Jebel Ali School and the REIT manager voluntarily reducing its management fees over the period by approximately $600,000. Overall, the one-offs impacting positively the half-year results last year were $6.5 million when you look at the net property income and $13.5 million when you look at the operating profit. This quarter, conversely, we had to record a one-off $1.5 million loss associated with the disposal costs of the Jebel Ali School. Further, the disposal of the Jebel Ali School obviously had an impact on income and on portfolio valuation. When we will speak about like-for-like basis, it will be to show you a comparable performance of recurring income on an identical portfolio. This explained, let me turn to the indicators. On occupancy, we're up 11.9 percentage points year-on-year, reaching 81.9% as of June 30, 2022. On a like-for-like basis, we are up 15 percentage points. The investment property reaches $758.6 million, up 4.7% year-on-year, driven by the continued improved valuations determined by the REIT's independent values. On a like-for-like basis, that is excluding Jebel Ali School from last year's valuation, we're up 11.1%. Net asset value is also up year-on-year by 27.3% to total of $352.6 million leading to the NAV per share reaching $1.10, a 21.4% improvement compared to June 30, 2021. On the net property income, we are reporting a 10.9% decline year-on-year at $27 million. But as stated above, on a like-for-like basis, that is disregarding the property income of the sales of half a floor in Index Tower last year and of Jebel Ali School this year, the net property income would be up 19.6% year-on-year. The net profit is up 20.9% year-on-year at $61.5 million for the half year 2022, and the earnings per share are correspondingly up by 21.2%. So overall, a satisfactory continuous improvement in performance, both year-on-year but also quarter-on-quarter, as Moeen will detail later. Prior to giving the floor to him for the financial details, I would like to briefly comment on the macroeconomic environment and the Dubai real estate markets and walk you through the asset and portfolio management achievements as of June 30, 2022. So turning to the market overview. Needless to say, the UAE economy continues to fare well buoyed by higher oil price and oil production, the visa reforms, the booming tourism and the government's measures towards various economic sectors. The UAE Central Bank's quarterly report released in July indicated that total UAE GDP increased by 8.2% annually in the first quarter of 2022. The Central Bank expects real GDP to grow by 5.4% in 2022 and 4.2% in 2023, and expect non-oil GDP to increase by 4.3% and 3.9% in 2022 and 2023, respectively. As to the Purchasing Managers Index, which is an index of the prevailing direction of economic trends in the manufacturing and service sectors, it remains steadfastly well above the 50 mark at 56.1 for Dubai, the highest in over 3 years, and 54.8 for the UAE in general. Those numbers highlight the continuing positive economic outlook for the UAE and Dubai in the eyes of the economic actors. There are, however, certain headwinds that we are continuously monitoring. Those are the results of the continuing disruption to the supply chains and the conflict in Ukraine, both creating inflationary pressure in the wake of which we have seen a hike in interest rates globally. Those inflationary pressure and interest rate upticks could lead to a slowdown of the growth. With the IMF's July update forecasting a 3.2% global growth for 2022, down 0.4% compared to their April forecast. Turning to the Dubai office market. There were no new completions of offices in Dubai in the second quarter of 2022, and the stock remains stable at 9.1 million square meters. It is forecasted that slightly over 50,000 square meter of office should be delivered before the end of the year, a 0.6% increase to the stock. On the occupancy and rental fronts, we are witnessing a general trend where prices are rising in Dubai's newer and more prominent districts and falling in its order are more traditional ones. This is highlighted by the bar chart on the top right corner published by Knight Frank. Average grade A floorspace in CBD climbed 15% year-on-year to AED 1,945 per square meter as reported by GLA. On the retail front, here again, there were no new deliveries during the second quarter of 2022. And the total stock remains at 4.6 million square meters. It is anticipated that a significant part of the 333,000 square meters of planned retail delivery before the end of the year will be delayed as the rent market remains quite soft on the retail front. Indeed, average rental rates across primary and secondary malls fell 3% year-on-year as reported by GLA with a greater drop for the secondary malls. The luxury and fashion segments seem to be recovering, and the outperformer remains the F&B sector buoyed by the rebounding tourism. Turning now to the operational highlights with a greater focus on the quarterly performance. Whilst occupancy, as indicated in my introductory remarks, grew by 15 percentage points year-on-year on a like-for-like basis, it grew 2.4 percentage points over the quarter disregarding the sale of the Jebel Ali School. This occupancy increase is mostly driven by Index Tower and Index Mall, which recorded a blended 8.2 percentage point occupancy increase during the second quarter at 79.7% and by Office Park, which recorded a 6.9 percentage point increase over the quarter at 79.8%. Rental rates across the office portfolio grew by 1.9% over the quarter at AED 1,618 per square meter. And the rate across the education portfolio remained stable on a like-for-like basis at AED 904 per square meter. Disregarding the sale of Jebel Ali School, which was under a long lease, the weighted average lease to expiry increased by 5.4% to 7.8 years. Over the period, 58 leases were concluded whether as renewals or new tenants for a total of nearly 12,000 square meters, while 11 tenants occupying 1,118 square meters left our portfolio. The retention rate by area over the second quarter of 2022 was at 84.3%. Moving on to the office portfolio. The offices in Index Tower continue to attract a lot of interest given the quality of the asset and its prime location. Over the second quarter, we saw a 6.5 percentage point increase to now reach 86%, mostly driven by larger premium fully fitted and furnished offices. As to office park and as we shared in our Q1 presentation, the interest we saw picking up since the beginning of the year started materializing with 6.9 percentage points increase in occupancy over the second quarter, now totaling 79.8%. There remains continued interest, and the team is working towards a continued occupancy improvement. The occupancy in Loft remains subdued with a quarter-on-quarter reduction of 1.1 percentage point at 38.3%. We are currently reassessing the marketing strategy and should soon start the repositioning works on Loft 3. European Business Centers occupancy remained relatively flat quarter-on-quarter at 68.7%, a 0.5 percentage point decrease. Importantly, access, landscape and waterproofing works have commenced, which will enhance the attractiveness of the building. We are also working on enhancing the tenant mix of the retail ground floor to cater better to the other tenants and the wider community. With respect to Building 24, we have now finalized the amendment to the property and leasing management agreement with TECOM. This is an important milestone as this amendment will enable a significant reduction in the service charge leakage, which were active at January 1, but will also allow us to take a much more proactive role in the leasing of the asset. As to Indigo 7, there is nothing new to report with the building remaining at full occupancy. Turning to the retail portfolio. The asset management team registered notable leasing successes during the second quarter with 20.4 percentage point increase in occupancy that now sits at 46%. One of our existing talent platform has decided to increase its floor space given the success of its business. And we are delighted to have signed Smart Salem, which provides medical fitness testing for UAE resident visa purposes. It is a one-of-a-kind VIP service center that the Dubai Health Authority and General Directorate of Residents And Foreigners accredit. It is currently in fit-up phase and is expected to open in September. We believe that this addition to the tenant mix will bring further footfall that will benefit all other tenants. There is nothing to report on Trident Mall with occupancy stable at 71.5% over the quarter. Moving on finally to the education sector. GEMS continues to operate very successfully and is maintaining on the premises, state-of-the-art facilities that contribute to enhancing the value of the asset. Lycee Francais Jean Mermoz, we started in Q2, the work for phase 3, which includes the sports center for the Lycee, and those are anticipated to be completed by the end of the year. The Lycee is doing extremely well operationally and the enrollment for September 2022 is very strong. On Durham School Dubai, since the lease was signed in March, the team has been busy over the second quarter, overseeing the required works to allow a smooth opening in September. Those notably included the refurbishment of all internal areas, which have been vacant since 2018 and the construction of the access road. We anticipate the handover to occur immediately and the school will open on schedule on August 29. Finally, as to Jebel Ali School. We signed an agreement with Taaleem, one of the large education operators in Dubai, which has acquired the property from us and settled the school's outstanding rent liabilities towards the REIT. Taaleem has simultaneously acquired the operations of the group. Overall, upon complete payment of the consideration, the investment will have generated a 1.4% multiple return on investment for the REIT. Moving on to the year-on-year occupancy guidance. The following bar chart has been prepaid on a like-for-like basis, that is excluding Jebel Ali School. As we alluded to earlier, the performance of the REIT has been very good over the past 12 months, with occupancy increasing a significant 15 percentage points from 66.9% as of June 30, 2021, to 81.9% as of June 30, 2022. Thanks to the continuing efforts of the asset management team. With this overview, I yield the floor to Sheikh Moeen, who will walk you through the financial results of Emirates REIT.

Thank you, Thierry. And good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. As Thierry mentioned that the year-on-year growth in net profit was around 21%, allow me to present a detailed breakdown of this. The first line on this slide shows that the core rental, fee and other income grew by 13.7% on a year-on-year basis. This was a direct result of rising occupancy levels and overall positive shift in rental rates in an improving real estate market. This incorporates the effect of loss in full period revenue from the Jebel Ali School that was sold in May 2022. Although the Jebel Ali School was sold at the latest valuation price, the REIT incurred certain costs, which as per IFRS are disclosed as loss of sale on transaction. Hence, we see a loss of around $1.5 million in June P&L. Incorporating the effect of this one-off cost, the total property income amounted to $32.9 million, which when compared to previous period $36.7 million shows a 10.3% year-on-year decline. Disregarding the effect of one-off from both periods, we will see a double-digit growth in year-on-year comparison. Moving ahead, you would see that the property operating expenses registered a decline of 7.7% on a year-on-year basis. This is a direct result of the efforts made by the asset management team to rationalize and save safe costs. And indeed, while seeing a background of increase in occupancy levels, it is an impressive achievement. Net property income for first half 2022 amounts to $26.9 million as compared to $30.3 million in the first half 2021. This shows a decline of 10.9% on a year-on-year basis. Disregarding the effect of asset disposal, the net property income for first half 2022 recorded an improvement of 19.6% on a year-on-year basis. Fund expenses for the first half 2022 were higher by less than $0.5 million as compared to previous half year. This was mainly due to the voluntary management fee discount granted by the REIT manager in the first half 2021. Similarly, the variance seen in ECL provision was primarily because of net reversal that was recorded last year as compared to a net charge that was booked in the current period. This all had an effect on the operating profit, which totaled to $18.2 million for the first half year 2022 as compared to $29.7 million posted for the same period last year. However, with lower finance costs and higher revaluation gains of around $57 million that were booked in the first half year 2022, the net profit jumped by 20.9% on a year-on-year basis and closed at $61.5 million as of 30th June 2022. Moving on to the next slide, we see that driven by improved market valuations as determined by the independent professional valuers, the fair value of investment property grew up by $34 million to close at $758.6 million, which translates into a growth of 4.7% on a year-on-year basis. Consequently, the total asset of the REIT recorded a growth of 6.6% and closed over $911 million mark as of 30th June 2022. Liquidity during the half-year period also recorded significant improvement, which was supported by divestment of Jebel Ali School and by cash and cash equivalent as of 30th June amounted to $55.8 million. Due to scheduled amortization of Islamic financing facilities during the period, the total liabilities fell by 3.4% and amounted to $558.5 million. Due to this reduction and improved asset valuations, the overall LTV for the REIT improved by 5.7 percentage points to close 51.8% down from an LTV of 87.5% as was reported in last year in June. As a result of above and supported by improved profitability during the first half year 2022, the net asset value of the REIT continued its growth momentum and closed at $352.8 million (sic) [$352.6 million], which is a year-on-year increase of 27.3%. This translates into a NAV per share of $1.1 as compared to a NAV per share of $0.91, which was supported as of 30th June 2021. If we go to the next slide, the quarter-on-quarter performance of the REIT highlights that are driven by revaluation gains, the net profit for the quarter jumped by over 70% and close at $38.7 million up from $22.7 million as was reported in Q1 2022. Going in the details, the core rental, fee and other income grew by 0.4% on a quarter-on-quarter basis and amounted to $17.2 million for Q2 2022. Total property income amounted to $15.8 million, which includes the effect of sale of Jebel Ali School. Disregarding the effect of this sale and on a like-for-like basis, total property income growth would be around 6.4% on a quarter-on-quarter basis. As was highlighted earlier, the like-for-like comparison includes the effect of both income and expenses related to the Jebel Ali School and the related divestment cost. Moving ahead, as elaborated earlier, due to cost rationalization efforts taken by REIT, the property operating expenses for Q2 decreased by 4.9% on a quarter-on-quarter basis, hence increasing the operating margin of the REIT. Fund expenses due in line with the growth in asset base, whereas finance costs posted are quarter-on-quarter decline driven by amortization of the financing facilities during the quarter. Consequently, the operating profit for Q2 amounted to USD 8.4 million, a 14.7% decrease over Q1 levels of $9.8 million. This is primarily due to the loss of Jebel Ali School revenues and disposal costs. Unrealized gain on portfolio reevaluation for Q2 2022 amounted to $37.2 million, which then added to reported $1.5 million of FFO, resulting in a net profit of $38.7 million, which is 70.2%, up on a quarter-on-quarter basis when compared with USD 22.8, which was reported for Q1 2022. The next slide shows quarterly performance strength for net property income. On the chart on this slide, we can clearly see that disregarding the effect of one-offs Jebel Ali School disposal costs, the quarterly trend of net property income on a quarter-on-quarter basis is affecting an improving trend, which is going up from $12 million levels, reaching to $14.1 million in Q1 to $14.3 million in Q2 2022. On a year-on-year comparison, we would notice that the net property income has declined by 10.9% in first half 2022. This may see disregarding the effect of gain and loss on divestment of investment properties from both periods would result in an year-on-year increase of 19.6%, as shown in the graph. Moving ahead on the next slide, the bar chart exhibits the quarter-wise movement in operating profits. Disregarding the effect of one-offs from quarterly operating profits, the lease due to profit recorded slight improvement and amounted to USD 9.9 million as compared to $9.8 million posted in Q1 2020. On a year-on-year comparison, the operating profit were lower by 38.8%. However, disregarding the effect of one-off sale of assets, reversal of ECL provision and voluntary rebate in management fee, as shown in the bar chart, the year-on-year variance will reflect a growth of 21.6% in operating profit. Concluding the slide, we would see that the quarterly operating profit for Q2 2022 on a like-for-like basis is the highest during the last 4 quarters, which reflects improving trends that the REIT has been able to maintain. I will now invite Thierry to conclude prior to opening the Q&A session. Thank you.

As Moeen and I have illustrated during this call, the REIT fundamentals are sound and improving. Occupancy is significantly up, rates are up, core recurring income is up, property expenses are down, net profit is up and the NAV per share is well over par at $1.10. On the good news front, there remains room for further improvement going forward since our occupancy is at 81.6%. And the team will work relentlessly towards achieving those improvements. As an immediate priority that continues mobilizing Moeen and my time is a successful refinancing of the $400 million Sukuk that matures in December. Owing to the confidential nature of the discussions and the market sensitivity of the matter, I, unfortunately, cannot tell you much more other than we are pursuing multiple work streams with various stakeholders that the matter is progressing, and we remain dedicated to successfully and timely completing the refinancing. With this, I would like to open the Q&A session. And would remind you to identify yourself for any questions asked if your log-in e-mail is not sufficient to provide a clear identification. Thank you.

So we've had a couple of questions already coming. So the first question comes from a representative of NBD Asset Management. There's actually a few questions in the e-mail. So what is driving higher investment property value given rates have declined across most commercial assets with the exception of ECB (sic) [EBC]? So I would like to temper a little bit. I appreciate that the report is indicating a decline in some rates. Office Park is pretty much stable at 0.4%. Loft office is up. European Business Center is significantly up at about 8% and the rest is -- doesn't really move the needle to those small assets. But the one -- the important point, I think, is with respect to Index Tower, where indeed the rates are down 21.7% facially. Now why? Basically, Index Tower is comprised of different types of floors. We have what we call the micro service offices, we have the premium, we have the Cat A, and we have the core and shell. And the way it work is most of the leasing recently has been done on the larger spaces, notably on the core and shell, which obviously is least much at a lower rate than as you can imagine, premium service office. To give you an idea, premium service office at about AED 500 a square foot, whilst core and shell is at about AED 140 per square foot. So obviously, on a blended basis, you're going to have notionally total decline office rates, but it is absolutely commensurate with basically our leasing strategies in terms of pricing. Interestingly, what we've seen is actually uptick in the values for the core and shell. A year ago, we were leasing typically starting leasing at about AED 140, and we're now starting at AED 165. So that's why I would temper. I appreciate that when you aggregate the number, it looks like a sharp negative on Index Tower, but it is simply because of the segregation of the different office types. The second question by the same person is, are we looking to dispose any more assets? As a REIT, we are typically a long-term holder. However, obviously, whenever an asset doesn't fit the strategy or doesn't meet the longer purposes of the REIT and where we believe we have extracted the maximum value, we will always look at potential opportunities to dispose to recycle into yield accretive opportunities. And finally, the last part of the question was to elaborate on the Jebel Ali School sale and when we expect to receive the full transaction amount? So the sale was done, as you know, in May, and it comprised both the property purchase price but also the settlement of the school's outstanding liability towards the REIT. Now there has been a deferred amount, which will be payable on the first anniversary of the completion, that is in May 2023. This is recorded in the receivables, where you will see an increase of 9 -- sorry, Moeen, what is the number?