Platzer Fastigheter Holding AB (publ) ($PLAZB)

Earnings Call Transcript · April 17, 2026

OM SE Real Estate Real Estate Management and Development Earnings Calls 34 min

Highlights from the call

In the first quarter of 2026, Platzer Fastigheter Holding AB reported a decrease in rental income of 2% to SEK 435 million, driven by net divestments and higher vacancies. Despite this, the company achieved a 1% increase in profit from property management, attributed to improved net financial items. Management maintained a positive outlook, emphasizing strong business momentum and strategic transactions, including a significant asset swap with the Port of Gothenburg, which is expected to enhance growth in the logistics segment.

Main topics

  • Strong Letting Performance: Platzer reported net letting of SEK 20 million, primarily from its office portfolio, with a solid rental growth of 6% from renegotiations. Management noted, "We need to go back to second quarter of '24 to find a single quarter with a higher volume of renegotiations and a more positive outcome."
  • Strategic Asset Swap: The company completed a significant asset swap with the Port of Gothenburg, divesting SEK 684 million in capital while acquiring a modern logistics building. This transaction is expected to strengthen Platzer's position in the industrial and logistics segment.
  • Stable Financial Position: Platzer reported stable property values totaling just above SEK 30 billion, with an interest cover ratio of 2.6. The company has improved its net financial items, leading to a stronger financial position despite a decrease in operating surplus.
  • Impact of Geopolitical Tensions: Management acknowledged the potential long-term effects of geopolitical tensions, particularly regarding energy prices and inflation. They stated, "We remain humble regarding the potential longer-term effects of geopolitical uncertainty."
  • Increased Vacancies: The company experienced an increase in vacancies, particularly in the office segment, with an overall occupancy rate of 90.6%. Management indicated that the office market is facing challenges, stating, "The letting volume has decreased to around 75% of the 2024 levels."

Key metrics mentioned

  • Rental Income: SEK 435 million (vs SEK 445 million in Q1 2025, -2% YoY)
  • Net Operating Income: SEK 15 million lower (vs Q1 2025, -4% YoY)
  • Profit from Property Management: SEK 268 million (or SEK 2.26 per share, +1% YoY)
  • Occupancy Rate: 90.6% (up from 90.4% in Q4 2025)
  • Interest Cover Ratio: 2.6 (improved from previous quarter)
  • Loan-to-Value Ratio: 47% (unchanged from year-end)

Overall, Platzer's first quarter results reflect a mix of strong letting performance and strategic transactions, countered by challenges in rental income and rising vacancies. The company's proactive approach to managing its portfolio and focus on future development positions it well for long-term growth, but investors should monitor geopolitical risks and market conditions closely.

Earnings Call Speaker Segments

Johanna Rentsch

Executives
#1

Welcome everyone joining us today for our first quarter interim report. My name is Johanna, and I will be copresenting together with my CFO, Jakob. We entered 2026 with a high level of business activity, similar to the previous quarter, in fact. As I mentioned before, maintaining a strong business momentum is a key ambition of mine, and I'm proud to see that this quarter, we are seeing results from our efforts, both in meeting customer needs, our letting activity and on the transaction side. Despite a turbulent macro environment with geopolitical tensions and ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, we have successfully closed several important agreements. We delivered a strong letting performance, including several large lettings and the successful renegotiation stock with solid rental growth. Net letting amounted to SEK 20 million, and we improved our occupancy rate. All of this net letting was generated from our offices portfolio. We'd likely have not seen yet the full long-term effects of the war in the Middle East, particularly regarding energy prices, inflation and interest rates. But we are noting some volatility in market rates and slightly more cautious focus in the Swedish economy recovery. So far, we have not experienced any slowdown in corporate decision-making but we remain mindful that this could change. My guiding principle, however, is to focus on what we can control, and that is where we put in our efforts. That said, here and now, we are delivering. Speaking of our strong business momentum, most notably, we recently signed a major combined asset swap with the Port of Gothenburg, creating multiple positive effects. In addition, in January, we signed a letter of intent regarding future land allocation adjacent to Gothenburg Center Station, both of which I will return shortly. Our finance function has also maintained a high level of activity, contributing positively to our earnings from property management this quarter. We also repurchased SEK 95 million of our Class B shares ahead of the AGM in March. Looking at the figures for the quarter. Rental income decreased by 2%, driven by net divestments last year and vacancies. Net operating income decreased by 4% due to these factors, of course, as well as high costs related to cold and very snowy winter. At the same time, we report stable income from property management. It's up 1% and is supported by our active financing efforts. We have improved our net financials driven by lower average interest rate in our portfolio combined with reduced debt. We have also continued to strengthen our financial position through extended capital duration and by entering our -- into new derivatives. That is a way that we navigate in a more volatile interest rate environment. Of course, our concluded transaction agreements also contribute and provide increased flexibility going forward. Diving into our asset swap with Port of Gothenburg. We have completed this strategically important deal with the Port of Gothenburg and that strengthened our growth journey within the industrial and logistics segment so let me elaborate a little bit on the concluded deal and what we divest and what we acquire. The transaction makes us a net seller releasing approximately SEK 684 million in capital. The divestment is made slightly above book value. Closing is extended to no earlier than Q4 2026 and is subject to approval by the Municipality Council. This is a standard for municipality-owned entities. We divest land, water and office building, and we buy a logistic building of 24,000 square meters. This is what we divest, it's 9 office buildings and the occupancy rate is 71%. And we acquired this modern logistics building with Schenker as a tenant. And we have also an expression of intent regarding future development right of 9,000 square meters adjacent to this building. If we look at this picture on the left side, you can see Port view. The divestment includes 22,000 square meters of logistic development rights that we sell. In exchange for this, we get this modern income-generating assets in one of the strongest logistics location in the Nordics. And we remain -- we have approximate 25,000 square meters that we retain. Overall, this is strategically important. It strengthens our portfolio, it releases capital for continued growth and contributes to the long-term development of both Gothenburg and the port of Gothenburg, something that is really positive also for our own property assets in Arendal. This is a clear example of how we actively manage our portfolio today, but we're also building for the future. When the office market and the employment pick up again, we will be in a position to start larger office projects. While that might take some years, we are already preparing for it. We have the building rights of two different areas. We have both Stora Bla comprising 40,000 square meters and recently, we have also signed a new letter of intent with the City of Gothenburg for few future building rights adjacent to Gothenburg Central Station. It gives us approximately 100,000 square meter development potential with zoning plans in place and a potential to start projects somewhere between 2028 and 2032 so we are very well positioned to launch projects when the market is ready, and that will give us a clear leverage on value creation. Here, we see two of the projects that we are currently running. One is Assa in Port view, which we have previously not communicated by name. And the other one is a joint venture in Sorred Logistikpark. This is where we have an option to acquire the asset upon completion. Looking at net letting which remains strong in this quarter at SEK 20 million, all of the contribution comes from our office portfolio. In fact, we need to go back to second quarter of '24 to find a single quarter with a higher volume of renegotiations and a more positive outcome. We have completed several new lettings, including 2,700 in Lilla Bommen and 3,300 square meters in Gamlestaden. At the same time, we have seen a strong ability to renegotiate with large volumes of SEK 64 million and a solid rental growth of 6% in those renegotiations. Our tenant, Ramboll has indicated that they will leave Garda in August 2027 for Grand Central. They currently lease 4,900 square meters. The tenant has not formally giving notice. Hence, it does not reflect in the net letting of this quarter. If we look at this picture, we can see some of the activity that I have mentioned already. If you then look at our customer base across our [ 724 ] lease agreements that we have at the moment, 10 largest tenants account for 33% of our total contract value. And we have a very broad mix of tenants, including hotels, public sector, industrial and office users and that creates a resilience and the stability for us. During this quarter, we increased our economic occupancy rate from 90.4% to 90.6%. And we reached a surplus ratio of 77% in the quarter and 79% if you look at the year-to-year. In terms of area distribution, our portfolio roughly is evenly split with industrial logistics and projects accounting for about 50% and the other segment offices, about 50%. So a little bit about the Gothenburg markets. At present, we are in a normalized economic environment in Gothenburg, slightly above 100, and the manufacturing PMI is at its highest level in 4 years. The recovery is largely driven by households and the service sector has strengthened to around 100, which is supportive for office demand over time. Unemployment has also decreased slightly to 6.4%, is still the lowest figure in Sweden. That said, we remain humble regarding the potential longer-term effects of geopolitical uncertainty. Gothenburg benefit from a unique mix of large international companies and innovative startups, combined with a highly educated workforce. Around 1 in 10 people holds a Master of Science Engineering. Gothenburg also plays a leading role as a center for R&D and innovation, acting as a strong engine for growth. It's also Sweden's main export hub. And despite the trade war, export has remained surprisingly resilient last year, around 10% go to the U.S. and 70% to Europe. Global trade patterns are currently shifting through new trade agreements, which will be important to follow going forward. The Port of Gothenburg also have reached new volumes of records last year, once again, I would say. The business landscape is broad and dynamic and ranging from companies like Saab and growing defense sector to significant investment in life science, which is actually currently the fastest-growing segment for us. We are more than just an automotive hub although it is worth noting that Volvo car's new EX60 is being developed and produced here in Gothenburg with stronger-than-expected sales. And looking especially at manufacturing, and the automotive sector, the industry is facing pressure from China and the stronger Swedish krona. However, according to the latest confidence indicators from Nordea and the National Institute of Economic Research based on very recent data from end of March. In other words, when the Middle East war had started, the sentiment has recovered to more normal levels. So let us look into our segment relevant to these businesses, industrial and logistics. We experienced a strong transaction market and high demand from investors with yields well below 5%. There is also strong demand in the letting market and the low vacancy rate in prime locations of 4%. Turning to the office market in Gothenburg. The letting volume has decreased to around 75% of the 2024 levels. We are now in line with the same levels as 2019. Activity remains solid, though with similar numbers of leases signed, but smaller average size of each lease. So the average size is around 500 square meters. Rental levels remain stable with prime rents of about 4,200 [ kilometer ] per square meter. Vacancy has increased to around 14%. It's primarily driven by significant new office supply during 2021 and '22. That was equivalent to 10 years of new supply that was put into the market in two years. This quarter, it also includes [indiscernible] in the vacancy numbers. Hence, it's going up. Looking ahead, no new project starts have taken place last year and also not so far this year. And we have now a 60,000 square meter that is currently under construction with completion in 2027, of which about 4,000 square meter remains unlet. So beyond that, new supply is very limited in the next few years. After 2028 and '29, we have virtually no additions, so far, being added to the market as a project like this takes about 3.5 years to produce. So a reduction of vacancy will take time, but it do require that employment rate and the growth in the office intensive sectors goes up. I would have a look at that. Unlike some other cities in Sweden, the employment rate in office intensive sector has not turned down actually during these 3 years of recession, but it has flattened out. Historically, though, the office intense sectors have grown by around 4% annually in Gothenburg, and that is really high. Going forward, a more sustainable growth rate could be around 2%, assuming no major macro disruption happens and that the expected turn in economy will take place, and that is numbers according to Citymark's newest analysis. And with that, I also look into how our portfolio looks. So looking at these sectors, this is our portfolio today. In summary, we contribute -- we continue to see stable property values totaling just above SEK 30 billion, with yield requirements remaining around 5.1%, in line with previous periods. Market yields in the office segments are also supported by recent transactions, including Elekta's acquisition from Technopolis and Folksam's purchase of Hertziahuset from Vasakronan. With that, as a starting point, I will hand over to you, Jakob, to take us through the portfolio and financial key figures in more detail.

Jakob Nilsson

Executives
#2

Thank you, Johanna. So if I start where Johanna left off with our property portfolio, we continue, as Johanna said, with a stable property values just above SEK 30 billion. In the quarter, we have an unrealized value change of SEK 40 million. That's driven by increased cash flow from lettings and renegotiations. As Johanna said, the yield is the same as year-end at 5.1%. The investment volume was relatively low in the quarter, SEK 57 million, and the LTV ratio on total assets remained at 47% just as at year-end. If we look at the LTV ratio for our properties, it's amount to 49%, that as well as Q4 '25. If we look at the earnings, we delivered growth also in this quarter when it comes to income from property management, plus 1% compared to Q1 2025. If we look at the rental income, it decreased by 2% to SEK 435 million compared to SEK 445 million in the first quarter of 2025. The decrease is mainly driven by that we have made divestments and that we have a higher vacancy in the portfolio. The rental income of SEK 435 million, as said, if we compare that to the indication; we had in the earning capacity on January 1, the rental income here exceeds the earning capacity by SEK 13 million. And that's mainly explained as it also was in the two previous quarters by rent supplements and short-term income, such as parking. The heavy wind term meant higher cost for us especially for snow removal and heating. This is reflected in our operating surplus, which decreased by 4% compared to 2025. And that's SEK 15 million lower than first quarter 2025. As already mentioned, we still report growth in profit from property management of 1% and that's due to that we have improved our net financial items by SEK 90 million to SEK 126 million. And that's driven both by lower debt volumes, lower rent levels and better margins. Compared with previous quarter we improved the financial items by SEK 7 million. And the improved net financial items enabled us also to increase the interest cover ratio to 2.6 while the reduction we had in operating surplus made that we have an increase in net debt compared to EBITDA up to 11.5% for the quarter. We have continued to work actively with the financing during the quarter, which I will return to. If we summarize, we continue to have growth in income from property management. We have stable property values and stable financial key ratios that have strengthened over the last year. Finally, I would like to mention profit after tax, which in the quarter amounted to SEK 268 million or SEK 2.26 per share, and the earnings were positively impacted by unrealized value changes in financial instruments of SEK 98 million. So then let's look a little bit more closely at the reasons for the development during the quarter divided into our 3 pillars: like-for-like, projects and transaction. We start with revenues. We see that we are increasing revenues in the like-for-like portfolio. And that's mainly a net effect of index increases and higher vacancies. The decrease of SEK 8 million in projects mainly refers to the fact that Molnlycke Health Care left its premises in our property and Gamlestaden started in this summer. Part of that premises, we have leased out, 3,300 square meters and that will be occupancy late this year. The decrease in transaction is a net effect of the sale of the English school in Q1 2025 and the acquisition of the industrial property in Tuve that we made in the autumn. In total, it means that we reduce the revenue by 2% in the quarter. In the middle row, we have our property costs which we increased by SEK 5 million or 5% compared with the corresponding quarter last year. And that mostly is in the like-for-like portfolio. And as I said, is explained by the cold and snowy winter. Both heating costs and snow removal increased sharply totaling SEK 5.3 million and SEK 4.8 million of those were in the like-for-like portfolio. In projects, costs decreased due to a one-off payment in 2025. And in transactions, there are increased costs for property tax, but also media due to the winter. In total, it means that we are reducing the operating surplus in both the like-for-like project and transaction by a total of SEK 15 million or 4%. The surplus ratio for the quarter was 77%, but 79% rolling 12 months. In summary, revenues declining as expected from that we have been a net seller in the previous year as well as that we have a higher vacancy in the office portfolio. This, together with increased cost for the winter results in a reduction in the operating surplus overall. As before, we are fully focused on vacancies and lettings, and we're pleased to see that we have shown positive net letting in this quarter as well. We are also continuing our strong cost focus where we were successful in the previous year. So let's look at our financing. We have a stable financial position. As mentioned, we have strengthened our credit-related key figures over the past year. If we look at the market, the quarter began at the end of last year with a strong banking and capital market with continued decline in credit margins. And in connection with the conflict in the Middle East, the situation changed rapidly, especially in the fixed income market with higher volatility and increased interest rates, especially in the short term. On the bond side, we feel that it's relatively stable. We estimate that the credit spread for us has increased about 15% since the bottom, which means that we are back on the same levels as in the autumn 2025. During the quarter, we were active with our financing. We refinanced bank loans of approximately SEK 1 billion and issued SEK 150 million in bonds. And in February, before the conflict in the Middle East, we extended interest rate swaps of SEK 700 million. The net outgoing debt increased slightly during the quarter. So as you can see, the average interest rate, the closing average interest rate was 3.46%, including commitment fees. That is 1 basis point higher than the closing at year-end. We had during the quarter, rising interest rates with 9 basis points but they were offset by lower margins, so we could basically stay at the same average rate. For both net debt compared to EBITDA rolling 12 months, the share of secured financing and the LTV ratio have been small movements during the quarter. The interest cover ratio, the ICR rolling 12 months increased slightly to 2.5%. In February, our rating institute, NCR, published a rating action report in which they confirmed our existing long-term BBB- rating with stable outlook, while they raised our short-term rating from N4 to N3. As mentioned, we were active in the fixed income market before the conflict in the Middle East and signed derivative contracts of SEK 700 million which allowed us to increase our average fixed interest period slightly, but rounded off 2.8 years as previous quarter. If we look at the chart from year one and going forward, we have an even and good distribution of maturities over the next 5 to 6 years. And we have also some maturities longer than that. Of that 32% that matures within one year, 5% of those are cancelable swaps that are running. The refinancings were made in the quarter have meant that we have further extended our credit maturity and the capital duration is now 2.8 years in average from 2.7 years a quarter ago. As on the fixed income side, we aim for an even maturity for each coming year. To sum up the financing, we have significantly improved the financial position over the last year. The growth in our earnings, combined with the larger liquidity buffer and the upgrade of the rating in 2025 has given us much better opportunities to actively work with our capital, both in the financing, but also in projects or transactions all to create value for the shareholders. An example of such a transaction is the combination deal that Johanna mentioned earlier. I will now go into more detail about the effects the transaction would have on our key figures. As Johanna explained, the transaction means that we are net sellers in an amount of SEK 684 million which means that our loan-to-value ratio will decrease by 1 percentage point. All other things like, of course. Based on our earnings capacity on April 1, included in today's report, net earnings capacity will decrease by SEK 75 million, while rental income will decrease by SEK 49 million and operating surplus by SEK 39 billion. Then we take into account both what we sell and that we buy, of course, so the total deal in those numbers. If we then calculate reduced interest costs and used the average rate that we have of approximately 3.5%, it means that we will have a total effect in income from property management of approximately SEK 15 million, so a reduction in income from property management of SEK 15 million. In the office portfolio that we are selling, the economic occupancy rate is 71%, 7-1, which means that our total occupancy rate will increase by about 1% when the deal is completed. However, as a large proportion of the vacancies in what we sell are classified as projects, the transaction will have a marginal impact on the reported occupancy rate which is currently 90.6% since that is excluding land and projects. Growth. Platzer have a long history of growth since 2013 when Platzer was listed. On average, we have grown income from property management per share by 13% per year. During the same period, the net asset value per share has grown by an average of 14% per year and the dividend by an average of 12% for the same period. During the quarter, we continued to create value for our shareholders by being active, both in property management, projects, transactions and our financing. The Platzer share between December 10 and until the AGM on March 24, we repurchased shares for a value of SEK 95 million in accordance with the result of share buyback program of SEK 100 million. And at the AGM, there was a renewed mandate for further share purchases. Sustainability. Our sustainability transition continues and is now fully integrated into the business. The share of sustainable financing now amounts to 75%, an increase of another 2 percentage points since we closed the year. Last time, I told you that we have a strong focus on reducing our climate emissions, especially in renovations. We are intensifying our work on circularity and resource efficiency with our concept of interior design concept, we make it easy for the customers to choose sustainable solutions and cost effectively. During the year, the concept was used in all tenant adoptions and contributed to reducing emissions by 180 tonnes of CO2 equivalents, which is the same as actually 37.5 laps around the world in a car, quite amazing. We've been good at improving energy efficiency for many years. In this quarter, though the cold winter had an impact and we increased the energy use compared to Quarter 1 2025. But we have decreased, if we look on a longer perspective of -- decreased it 40% since 2013. This is good for the environment, for the customers and for our bottom line. Over to you, Johanna.

Johanna Rentsch

Executives
#3

Thank you. I would like to sum up. We have maintained a high level of business activity during the quarter across letting, transactions and finance, and that is a pace that we intend to sustain. Our focus is clear: to reduce vacancies, strengthen cash flow and stay close to our customers. We are taking pride in acting fast, professional and being flexible in every deal. Filling our vacancies is where we create value here and now, and it will remain our top priority going forward. At the same time, we also continue to invest for the future through active portfolio rotation, for example, such as the Port of Gothenburg deal that we described and through growth in industrial and logistics by product development and transaction and by securing opportunities for the next generations of office projects. The outlook for Swedish economy and for the Gothenburg region is improving, although it will take some time. While the global environment remains uncertain, we remain focused on what we can control and where we can make a difference. And we have proven our ability to deliver and to be long-term specialists in a dynamic growing city, and we have the same ambition going forward. So with that, and I would like to thank you for listening, and we are happy to take your questions.

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