Immobiliare Grande Distribuzione SIIQ S.p.A. (IGD) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Operator Instructions] Let me now turn the conference over to Mr. Roberto Zoia, CEO and General Manager of IGD. Mr. Zoia, you have the floor.

Thank you very much. Good afternoon to all of you. Let's hope we can soon go on holidays. And let me start with a presentation that was sent to you, and it was also published on our website, starting from Page 2 and with satisfaction that we disclosed the KPIs as being very positive and net rental income freehold on a like-for-like basis are up 4.1%. EBITDA is following more or less the same trend, up 3.4%. And then FSO strong growth versus H1 2025, landing at EUR 21.1 million. Another very important piece of information as far as we are concerned, is the group net profit standing at EUR 20.6 million, which is roughly double of what we had in the first half of 2025. But of course, all that is indeed supported by operating performance. Very interesting operating performance you find on Page 3 of the presentation. Tenant sales are up 4.6%. And we also introduced because we have the National Council for Shopping Malls in Italy, released data on the 30th of July. So we're also adding their data. So the National Council released 2.2%, whilst we had -- we were up 4.6%. So we are much higher than the national benchmark. Let me tell you that the CNCC Observatory is recording 330 shopping malls versus the 13,000 that are invoiced for, and it's focusing on shopping malls, and we definitely outperformed the benchmark. Same applies to footfall. CNCC closed 1.3 as an average. IGD was up 4.3%. We are definitely higher than the domestic benchmark. And then also hypermarkets, that we still have 8 hypermarkets after the disposal we made with the Juice Food funds. Well, IGDs hypermarkets are up 1.3%. Nothing happens by chance. Tenant sales are going well. Footfalls are going well. So it's easier also to perform a leasing activity. And it's still going on. And occupancy. Our occupancy is going up. The closer we get to the destination, let's say, the more difficult it is to have major steps forward. And what I would like to stress is the occupancy level that is still constantly growing. The work we are doing is starting to give benefits and results. We started in 2024 with less of WALB, weighted average lease for break option, and we are now at 2.13 years. The goal is to reach 3 years. And even in this case, our performance is again growing and improving. And the upside we got from Italy is 0.9%, and it's definitely an improvement in our rents, both for renewals with the same tenants and also in case of new contracts. Over this first half, the renewals and turnover of the period represented 5.8% of the freehold malls total rent, and we are renewing practically was 6.8%. So we're renewing the same amount of contracts we have in 2025. Let's now move to Page 5 in the presentation. I would like to show you with some of these pictures show you not only for the brands we included, but for what those brands represent overall. We have anchor tenants who are growing importance who can attract customers and visitors. And today, for instance, restaurants and catering is doing really well. So KFC and then normal. Normal is a store that really generates a huge traffic in the shopping malls. IKEA has a new strategy, and it focuses on stores where they don't have a warehouse. They have these point of sales where they can -- customers can order online. And then Upim, the OVS Group is working really well. And this brand name seem to be disappearing at first. But on the other hand, we've seen the reverse trend and they are providing very good results. Also very important is in food and beverage, we have to diversify our offering vis-a-vis competitors. We're working a lot on entertainment. Here, we have 2, one in Ferrara and one in Catania with areas that are sizable, 1,000, 1,500 square meters, and they definitely attract visitors, especially younger visitors who can stop longer at the shopping mall and therefore, increase consumption and therefore, live and experience the shopping mall. If we move on to Page 6. Here, we wanted to show you our strategic assets that are at the very core of our business plan. We are really working hard on reconfiguring and repositioning, restyling, remodeling our shopping malls. Both from the architectural viewpoint. So as I said, remodeling and restyling and also sales remodeling. And then, of course, we are constantly working on our merchandising mix to streamline it and improve it. We are optimizing space and some of it is devoted to entertainment. So we have to build ad hoc areas. And also, we have to be very prompt in reacting when it comes to catchment areas with the right marketing strategies and also on the digital side. And I'll tell you more about it in a minute. If see how -- what all of these actions are generating result-wise. So occupancy is going up, WALB going up, rents going up and the overall asset value is also going up, and I'll tell you more about them in a minute. So generally speaking, I find that our strategy is very consistent between what we do. We do the talking, but also we provide results that are rewarding for us, but also are rewarding for all those who are involved with us. We do things and we measure them with clear KPI, I think it's very interesting for as well. For examples of what we mean by this. We move on to Page 8 to see them. We invested and it's nearly finished the Centro Leonardo in Imola. It's a shopping mall. It's very central, very much connected with the urban system. We've completely refurbished the food court, and we've finished the first out as well. If you see the entry -- so we just started working on it and footfalls went up 5%, 7%. So definitely, it's -- we are even outperforming our expectations. And then Tiburtino in Rome, we worked on the sales area. We captured quite a few anchor tenants. We are going to invest in the second half of the year and the first half of 2027, we will invest more on the first half that shopping mall. Tiburtino for us, it's a very important asset with meaningful value for us. And this is where we, of course, have to face competition, but the results really show us that our hard work managed to protect our assets. And I told my teams, let's now invest, let's now start, and we will invest on the Centro Tiburtino Roma. Centro Sarca in Milan is doing really well. There's a notorious multiplex cinema, and it's doing really well. And we built an area that can enhance the traffic going from the shopping mall to the cinema, multiplex. It's very much family oriented. There's a very strong catchment area, the Centro Sarca Sesto San Giovanni. And we also saw with a survey through our apps to get answers from the visitors. It's very much appreciated by families. And we are investing in entertainment for families, for kids. Also we want an easier access between the multiplex cinemas and the shopping mall that will indeed also attract people to the food and beverage areas. Page 11. This is the major effort we are doing on the digital side. And going forward, I think this is going to be key to attract customers, especially young customers, but not only the younger generations because we are also attracting people who are not just necessarily young people, but also of an older age than the young people. You can have a loyalty card. It's highly customized. You can have ad hoc discounts, or you can have freebies, you can get products for free. And this is to really attract consumers so that they can fill in the form, the form to have exclusive benefits. Over the last 6 months, we increased the profiling in our CRM. The profiling went up 4%. So we have 40% more clients that were profiled, but also we have 40% more clients who, in turn, can give us their feedback and give suggestions on how to manage the shopping mall at best for them. It's very useful for me to hear from a client. I would like to have more entertainment rather than a restaurant, for instance. We never forget that we have sustainability targets to comply with ESG targets. We are really speeding up the implementation of renewable energy systems and plants. We are completing actions of photovoltaic plants for 2 megawatts in 2 shopping malls. We do not directly invest in renewable energy, but we have reached agreements with very important partners such as Edison who invest in renewables and we consume -- we use energy at lower prices than the purchase prices from the grid directly. So this really provides a benefit to our tenants who get renewable energy at a lower price than the grid energy. Please remember that a long time ago, when it was not the usual thing to do in 2027, we've covered 70% of our energy need at fixed price. So even the fluctuations we read in the papers every day, we've really managed to basically mitigate them sizably. So renewable energy means environment and also means having a benefit from a financial perspective. Social, we've focused a lot on the training of our teams and also in the wake of the results we have achieved over the last couple of years after I was appointed, we really wanted to reward our personnel, our workforce. We have a special in-house welfare or at least so we are told it's a very ambitious welfare system. And we've increased it by 14%, 14% to really motivate our personnel and reward them, reward our teams, our workforce. We work a lot on our governance as well. So the so-called legality rating, we have the fifth renewal with the maximum score. And we are also working hard on cybersecurity at governance level because we are -- make our full staff aware of the fact that cybersecurity is a theme they have to be aware of because, of course, it might be dangerous otherwise for people unless they are fully informed. Page 13, as you could see, we are really delivering on our promises. And up until today, we've disposed of 8 buildings out of 15 -- assets out of 15. We also have some negotiations underway. And what we are on this slide is that by year-end, by the end of 2026, we foresee the further disposal of approximately EUR 15 million. So this is fully in line with what we have said about the disposal we had in the pipeline for Romania. So EUR 21.8 million in 2025, EUR 10.7 million in 2026, and we expect another EUR 15 million of disposal by the end of 2026. Let's now talk about Italy. We are now on Page 14 of the presentation. Here again, as I always say, every time I speak in retail is back. And for 2 years now in a row, it's back to being an asset class that is very appealing for investors. And the reason is very clear. You see it today. The fundamentals of retail are absolutely sound vis-a-vis other asset classes that are starting to somehow encounter some difficulties because of pricing, because of tenant quality or other factors. So it's still -- it's back to being the first asset class by investment volumes. You're talking about EUR 2.2 billion that led to transactions in the first half, and that is a very important factor because if you -- we also attached a survey led by Co, the new retail openings, about 6,000 of them over the year, driven by food and beverage and fashion with plus 5.2% in shopping centers. So that means that in addition to being extremely resilient and sound, we are supported by tenants that are somehow enhancing the value of our shopping malls, and that is very interesting as a factor. Going back to investment, I think it's worth spending a minute on what is happening as a matter of fact. The investment market, especially the retail market is mainly focusing on Southern Europe. Spain is really -- has the lion's share. I also have some data of Spanish shopping malls, the KPIs they have. I mean, Italy is nothing to add because we have the same KPIs as in Spain. And then an asset management, Sierra bought EUR 1.5 billion worth of LSG of the family of Roberto Late R Balcemi, decided to dispose of their portfolio. I know that portfolio very well, both in Madrid and Barcelona, shopping malls that are practically identical to the Italian shopping malls. If any one of you knows Rome, you go and see Romado, it's more or less the same as you would have in Spain generated -- created by the Balcemi family. So EUR 1.5 billion means that in Spain, Spain is starting to focus on pricing, too. There's a tension there. So whenever I'm meeting global investors, almost all of them start saying after Spain, Italy. And I really hope that -- and I'm confident that in H2, there will be some important deal so that we can get out of the limbo. The limbo were a retail stake for quite some time. And therefore, valuations can come back on focus. And performance, tenant sales and footfalls in Italy are exactly the same as the Iberian Peninsula, Spain and Portugal. We are definitely better than France. We are definitely better than Germany and definitely better than the Scandinavian countries. So today, retail in Italy is doing -- so Southern European retail is the one performing at best right now. Going back to IGD and on Page 15 now, we have an increase in our core portfolio that went up 0.6%, and I'm going to really stress that without touching rates. This 0.6% growth in our portfolio is exclusively driven by the performance of our net rental income that plus 4%. And if you tie it in with the DCF model, you, of course, end up with a write-up with the revaluation. And I've seen some higher valuations percentage-wise, but let me say that I'd rather stay with a plus 0.6%, but I know that I have a portfolio that is at market value. And therefore, I am very happy, very pleased that without touching rates, we still have a write-up of our portfolio that is, of course, helping our P&L indeed, especially the group net profit is affected by it, which is an offspring of this type of performance of this item. Despite the disposals, our portfolio is more or less the same, EUR 1.12 and now it's EUR 1.802 billion. We're on Page 1 of the presentation. As we disposed of Romania and we also completed the disposal of all the Livorno residential units, 115 out of 115. So the department that -- the part that best performed is shopping malls in Italy that accounts for more than 80% of IGD's total portfolio. So our core shopping mall portfolio is the one that generated the highest result, 0.7% hypermarkets as they have fixed contracts, long-term contracts, I mean, of course, there's not much -- there's not a very big space for further upside value-wise. And then Page 17, our LTV is lower despite the dividend we paid out in May. And this is really telling us that what we produce can withstand or we generate can withstand the paying out of a dividend, as you can clearly see from the figures. It's interesting that it went up. ICR went from 2 to 0.3x, slightly lower the weighted average interest rate. And we'll see in the second half of this year what the policy to be applied will be. It have a minor impact, but let me remind you that we are covered by 70% also -- hedged also on the interest rate risk. So fixed rate and hedged bank facilities, there won't be many -- there won't be a major impact. Of course, there are diverging opinions that there might be somehow minor change. On Page 18, you see a very important slide despite the change in consolidation scope leading us to a declining net rental income, of course, if I dispose of assets, I no longer have the income generated by those assets. So it's down EUR 1.2 million, but the like-for-like delta between Italy and Romania allows me net of what I disposed of, I am still showing a positive sign. And it's not trivial. It's not banal when you change your consolidation scope and when you sell well disposed of assets. EBITDA-wise, it's the same thing. And here, we have a master lease that is still live ongoing. And it has an impact because of IFRS 16. It's more of an accounting effect more than anything else. It's point something, but it's rental income that can offset the changes in consolidation. So good news, but we've already talked about it during the first -- well, Q1 results. Our financial position, financial management is providing the expected results as we reduced our debt and the cost of debt was also reduced. That, of course, generated a benefit with a financial position that at the end of the day, again, it has a positive sign on the FFO -- a positive impact on the FFO generated by the company. On Page 21, you see an EBITDA -- and the EUR 3.7 million of the change in financial management adjusted is improving and therefore, lead to EUR 24.1 million, that is to say the FFO for H1 2026. The group net profit, Page 22 is affected by the financial management, and it's not affected by the asset write-up because the slight adjustment point something fair value adjustment is offset by the CapEx for the period because we invested. I showed you Imola to set an example. So with that small write-up, we really repaid the CapEx for the period, some write-down we had in our portfolio. We are on Page 23. It's the same thing as you saw before. Here again, we paid out dividends for EUR 16.6 million, but the net financial position went down from EUR 789 million to EUR 781 million. Loan-to-value went up 30 basis points. The weighted average interest rate was also improved. ICR improved. And the net debt on EBITDA is still flat at 8x. Let me remind you, but I'm sure you're all aware of it, maturity profile, we all have it today. We are in a very comfortable position. The first maturity is in 2030. So we are definitely quite comfortable with everything we have ahead of us. And as always, we're always very, very careful. We're always very much looking at market opportunities to have one-offs or one-off transaction on our debt, but they have to be accretive vis-a-vis the current situation. However, having 4 years ahead of us really makes it very positive and comfortable position, hence, the great focus on our business. And also in 1 week over the year, there's a market opportunity, we are ready to capture it as we did in November with the EUR 300 million green bond issuance that enabled us to repay the first part of the debt we had started in -- with the banks in February 2025. The debt is basically flat. With banks, we have 62% market 38%, and 60% is secured and 40% is unsecured. And therefore, with no assets provided as collateral. And then the EPRA capital or EPRA NAV indicators are slightly growing. The NTA indicator is up 0.03. And it's part of the many growing trends or growth trends we have discussed today and disclosed today. I had assumed -- well, we gave you guidance of EUR 45 million for FFO during our business plan presentation in 2025. Today, it was already double digit versus the previous year. Today, what I can really say that FFOs, and let me underline it, it's going to be at least EUR 46 million. Why do I say EUR 46 million? Because right now, when there's a lot of volatility around and where every day, there's some concern, we have -- I'm talking about macroeconomic factors mainly. Every day, we have something to worry about or be concerned. So from my side and my company's side, we think it's worth showing indeed being conservative. But at the same time, well, you will read it as you think it's best, but I really hope that if it's not November, it's going to be when we do the full year account. I think we can further improve it. But today, what I can disclose, what I can say, looking at all the different factors, I don't want to make promises that I cannot deliver on. We're very close. I did not see 46, but I said at least 46 to say we're going to deliver on that and then maybe see what happens in the coming months. We confirmed -- we reconfirmed a number of -- well, our agenda is very intense. All the roadshows we went on during this first half were very interesting, and we met almost all of the market partner or investors, especially those specializing in European real estate, and that really enabled us to get feedback, suggestions, have a dialogue with investors and really talk about them about the future of our company going forward. And it's now safe. If you go back to April 2024 with the stock price at 1.4, it's quite. The goal today that was still reiterated by the Board meeting this morning is that today, the priority is to grow, grow our FFO, our net profit, grow our KPIs and with an LTV of 43%, it's not easy to think of new investments. But if we think of asset rotation, something coming from the Romanian disposals, I think that this company in the medium term is really willing to grow sizably. Unless the -- we're not -- unless you have specific questions, I'm not going to focus on the appendix where you can see our tenants, key tenants, the merchandising mix we have in Romania. I'm not going to dwell on that, and I'd like to leave more room for your questions. Thank you very much.

This is the operator. Let's now start the Q&A. [Operator Instructions] First question comes from the line of Arianna Terazzi with Intesa Sanpaolo.

Congratulations for the results achieved. Thank you very much for your presentation. The first question is on the consumption scenario you have from your privileged point of view somehow and the relationship with tenants and everything, the attitude of consumers and the inflation that may be back-end loaded, but what do you see as possible impact on some, I don't know, product categories or so? And then another question, market conditions, do you think it's still reasonable that transaction in Romania can take place at book value?