Swedish Logistic Property AB (SLPB) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hi, and a warm welcome to the presentation of SLP's Year-end Report for 2025. My name is Filip Persson, and I'm the CEO of the company. And with me, I have our Board member, Tommy Astrand, who is acting CFO during Matildas parental leave. For today's presentation, we have an agenda, and we will start with the highlights from the period, then go deeper into our property portfolio. And then Tommy will present the financial development before a short summary. If we look at highlights on the period, we can conclude that we have a strong quarter behind us and that the year of 2025 was another fantastic year for SLP. We are once again demonstrating the strength of our business model and are very pleased with the development of the company. We continue to work according to our strategy and deliver results day by day in all areas. This is reflecting in growing net operating income, a continued high surplus ratio and continued low central administration costs despite a much larger portfolio and low margin on our loans. Our refinement work -- or development work which goes hand-in-hand with our sustainability work yields results through large proportion of certified properties and as much as 95% sustainable financing. All this, despite the tough macro environment that has -- we have been in recent years with pandemic, recession and also political uncertainty. In terms of acquisitions, 2025 was a record year for us with the completion of 16 logistic properties in the right location with good development opportunities. And the total property value of these properties were SEK 4.1 billion. The annual rent value for these properties is SEK 291 million which means that we have significantly increased our earnings capacity during the year. Our rental income increased by 43%, which is, of course, partly due to the acquisition of properties. But also our hard and determined work in the property management, where we constantly work to implement projects that make our properties more attractive and thus generating a higher rent. Profit from property management has increased by 46%, which means that we managed to retain a large part of the rental growth in our profit and loss and shows that we are succeeding with our actions to improve our net operating income and that we have efficient internal processes and routines and also a very good dialogue with our five banks. During the fourth quarter, we carried out a direct share issue that raised SEK 800 million to the company. The issue was met with great interest from both Swedish and international investors and was made at the subscription price of SEK which corresponded to a premium of 25% against the NAV per share. The loan-to-value ratio at the end of the period was 47.9%, which is well below our long-term risk limit of maximum 55%. The interest coverage ratio was lands at 3.1%, also good margin to our risk limit of 2.5x. The LTV and ICR combined with our strong cash flow means that we are in a very good position to continue to acquire properties with the existing capital structure. Growth in profit from property management per share is up 33%, which exceeds our target of 15% by a good margin. And the net asset value per share has increased by 15%, which means that we are delivering against our target of 15% here as well. In short, SOP is a fast-growing real estate company focused on acquiring, developing and managing high-yield logistic properties with significant potential in good locations. At the end of the period, which is approximately 6 years since the company was founded. We have a portfolio of 127 properties with a total property value of approximately SEK 18.5 billion. And total area is now approximately 1.5 million square meters. Our properties are located in Southern Sweden in good logistic locations along the major roads and railway junctions. At our head office in Malmoe, we have 14 people. And last fall, we opened an office in Norrkoping with two employees to get closer to our tenants and the properties in the Eastern part of our portfolio. Something that I would like to say is unique to SLP, and that is the culture that we have created through shareholding among the employees, which creates a great commitment and character of the company since the start. If we look at the demand for logistics space, it remains high and is confirmed by our occupancy rate, which is as high as 97%, and it has been on those high levels for a long period of time. We also have a long average remaining lease period on our leases, which is 6.8 years. And this makes the dialogue regarding financing with our banks much easier. As I mentioned, we have two overall goals, growth of 50% per share in profit from property management and net asset value. And we have achieved those two goals since the company was founded. Acquisition of logistic properties with development potential in good location is an important part of our strategy to continue to achieve our overall goals. When we evaluate properties, we mainly look at the location and potential, but also the properties characteristics in form of ceiling height, number of days, et cetera. And of course, we like stable tenants, but it's more important that property is attractive in the rental market and appeals to many potential tenants to -- for us to provide stable returns over time. We also don't focus so much on the initial yield on day when we carry out an acquisition, but rather on what we can do with the property and what value we can create over time through our active management. The potential that can insist in -- the potential can exist in many different ways, but it's often in form of high operating cost, vacant areas the possibility of extension or reconstruction, but also the rent levels below the market level that can be renegotiated. During the fourth quarter, we completed a strategically important sale and leaseback deal with DSV, which is -- which since the acquisition of Schenker is the world's largest logistics company and thus an important customer for us. In total, four fully leased properties with great potential in really good locations were included in this deal. Also during the fourth quarter, we completed a previously announced transaction in Gothenburg, which further strengthens our presence in the city which is also one of Sweden's absolute best logistic locations. In total, we acquired and took ownership of 16 properties in 8 separate transactions in 2025. Since the company was formed, we have completed about 75 transactions, which, on average, is about one transaction per month. Going forward, we see good opportunities to maintain this pace of acquisitions, both in terms of supply in the market, but also in terms of our financial position, which Tommy will get back to -- get into later. As we continuously acquire properties with the potential end goal of realizing this development is an important part of our strategy. To try to describe the remaining potential within the portfolio, we have divided it into two parts. We have properties in Property Management which are properties where we have realized the potential that exists through hard work and are now fully developed. We usually call these cash cows since they generate a higher net operating income and have a lower vacancy, which in turn provides opportunity for a higher LTV ratio. You can, therefore, say that these help finance the other part of the property portfolio, which is the Development Properties. Development properties are those that there is a potential to increase net operating income by implementing the measures that we usually already have has identified in the DD process. And they can be everything to reduce energy costs in various ways, carryout extensions, conversions ramped out any vacant areas and in some cases, renegotiate the rents if those are not in line with the market conditions. Today, about half of their portfolios in terms of area and our development properties. And if we look at the difference in net operating income, the two categories are approximately SEK 107 per square meter which means that all other things being equal, we can drive a development of SEK 147 per square meter in net operating income in half the portfolio. In addition to the potential within the premises that already exist, we also have a lot of building rights on our properties where we can drive additional value. These building rights are not a land bank. Almost all building rights are on already built property and are something that we basically get for free when we acquire older properties that often have a generous zoning plan. If we look at our larger projects, which are those over SEK 25 million, we currently have one major new construction projects ongoing. It's a new construction project of 38,000 square meters in Falkenberg that is going according to plan. In addition to that, in Q3, we signed a 10-year lease agreement for a new building of approximately 27,000 square meters in Malmoe for a company named [ Sonics], which is an existing tenant. And to be elected again is, for us, a very good grade. These larger new construction projects are, of course, important. But least as important are all the smaller projects that we do daily. And as of right now, we have about 130 projects going on. And it's these smaller projects that have largely enabled us to report positive value changes in every quarter since the company was formed despite the fact that the yield requirement has gone up. We identify these smaller projects when we evaluate properties prior to an acquisition, but some is created in our very active dialogue with the tenants. In many cases, we do the projects together with tenants and create win-win situations. And this applies to everything from projects such as lighting. It can be better heating system, better ventilation, solar cells, reconstructions, extensions and so forth. During the period, we have invested approximately SEK 103 million in energy projects in -- SEK 211 million in other investments such as minor extension projects and renovations. If we look at the return on these projects, it's significantly higher than the average yield requirements that we have in our portfolio which is as of right now, 5.9%. When it comes to tenants, we have a broad mix of strong tenants. They -- the main categories are food, beverages and transport. We see a continued strong demand from our tenants. And what is driving this is a number of different major trends in society. Of course, a big factor is our changing trading pattern where e-commerce continues to increase both in number of parcels and in volume. We, as consumers have increased demand for circularity and sustainable transport, which is also driving the demand. The global situation with great geopolitical uncertainty is also increasing demand as companies saw good flows by moving production and warehousing closer to the market. And besides that, we also have the investments in the Defense Department and the membership in NATO that will mean a need for a lot of logistics space in the years coming ahead. As I mentioned, we have a very good calculation with our tenants. And we have two commercial managers who only focus on meeting the tenants to see how they are doing and what needs they have so that we can be a good partner who makes their everyday life easier to create value for us as a property owner, we must also create value for our tenants. This way of working and thinking is an important part of how we can continue to deliver the positive value changes quarter after quarter. During the year, we also conducted a consumer survey where we reached a result of 81, which is clear improvement from our result of 74 in 2023 and shows that our close dialogue with the tenants is appreciated. Among our 10 largest tenants, we still have a long remaining lease period of 9.1 years. And since the transactions during the fourth quarter, Schenker and Artifacts are now included in our 10 largest tenants. We have a positive net letting of SEK 6.8 million for the period and also -- and have so far not had a quarter with negative net lettings, which is quite strong considering our high occupancy rate of 97%. We have also managed to keep our remaining lease period, which is 6.8 which is our way of working with the risk limitation. We would rather see a slightly longer agreement than to get the last penny rent. It also makes it easier in the dialogue with our banks. Our sustainability work continues to develop positively and is a natural part of what we do when we develop our properties. It is difficult for me at least to imagine anything that is more sustainable than refining older properties that when we are done usually become green assets. We are out a sustained to work itself from three different perspectives, the planet, the people and the business, where we have concrete goals that we follow quarterly. In 2024, we reached a large number of our sustainability goals ahead of time and therefore, communicated updated and new sustainability goes in the first quarter of 2025, most of which are aiming for 2027. Among other things, we will reduce the share of leasable space with energy classes FMG to a minimum of 5% of the portfolio by the end of 2027 and have net sale emissions in the value change by 2040 at the latest. To ensure that our sustainability work is scientifically based. We also have submitted our climate targets for validation to size-based target initiative and expect the decision in 2026. With that, it's time to look through the economic development, and I hand over to you, Tommy.

Thanks, Filip. As Filip mentioned, we have a very strong 2025 behind us. We have two overarching goals, the same as we have had since the company was founded. Both financial, we will generate an annual average growth in NAV per share of at least 15% and an average annual increase in management profit of at least 50% per share. We continue to deliver on these goals. And in 2025, we increased management profit per share by 33% and generated an increase in NAV per share with 15%. I will get into what is driving the positive development later on in the presentation. We have had an intensive acquisition of [indiscernible] in 2025 and acquired for just over SEK 4 billion. We want to continue to grow with the right properties and continue to do so in a balanced way. We are a and have always been well in line with our financial risk limitations. Among other things, we will have an interest coverage ratio of at least 2.5x where we are just over 3x and a loan-to-value ratio of no more than 55%, where we will end 2025 with 48%, meaning that we can continue financing future acquisitions with additional financing of existing properties. SLP has grown strongly throughout its operating year. So we believe that the earning capacity provides a more accurate picture of our development compared to our income statement. We see the direct effects of the acquisitions, rentals and projects that have been made instead of -- in the income statement where it takes a long time before the effect is visible. We have achieved another milestone when we now pass the SEK 1 billion mark in net operating income and earnings capacity. The surplus ratio remains strong, which is, of course, also reflected in the income statement. We have worked hard to build efficient systems and processes as we run a transaction-heavy business, where in principle, each property is in its own legal entity. We can see that this work has paid off and that our business model has economic economics of scale in the form of the central administration costs increasing by SEK 13 million over the last past years, 6 years, while net operating income has increased by SEK 980 million. So overall, we have had a sharp increase in earning capacity and generated cash flow before tax of almost SEK 700 million. If we turn to the income statement, we, of course, see the effect of our acquisitions and leasing works and projects. But as I said before, the effect does not come as quickly in the income statement as in the earning capacity. We continue to increase our NOI. NOI for the period amounts to SEK 891 million compared to SEK 610 million in the corresponding period last year, an increase of 46%. This is explained by a larger property portfolio, of course, but also positive effects on net operating income in the form of leasings and cost savings. It is pleasing to be able to state that we continue to create value in our properties. Changes in value amount to SEK 44 million, which was positively affected by leasing, Day 1, effects link to acquisition, repositions, high-yield [ energy ] investments and so on. The average required return amounts to 5.9%, which is unchanged compared to the beginning of the year. For the period, we report earnings per share of almost SEK 2.8. Looking at our balance sheet. We continue to drive value in our investment properties. We are approaching SEK 19 billion in property value. All properties are externally valued on a quarterly basis by new SEK. During the period, we have acquired properties for SEK 4 billion. We have invested SEK 600 million in new building projects and energy projects and others and created value, as I mentioned earlier, of just over SEK 400 million. We have a strong cash position of almost SEK 600 million, of course, positively affected by the share issue of SEK 800 million that we did in December. We have also granted unused credits of SEK 1.3 billion from our banks. So in summary, we have a very strong financial position to continue growing the company with new acquisitions and projects within the existing capital structure. We continue to see very strong interest from our banks. We work with five banks: Nordea, SEB, Swedbank, Danske Bank and Sparbanken [indiscernible]. All bank has been involved in the company early on. They understand our business model, like how we create new cash flows and want to continue growing with us. Our margin is still declining in amounts at the year-end to 1.32%. And there is potential for further improvements here as over loans, new loans are renegotiated. We are continuously working to extend our capital commitment and hedge our positions. At the end of the period, we had a capital commitment of 1.8 years. This is where we have been in the recent years. We have hedged 60% of our debt, which is the minimum level that we have and our interest commitment amounts to 1.7 years. As I mentioned earlier, the loan-to-value ratio at the end of the period was just over 47%. So we are comfortable with being able to increase the loan-to-value ratio in the existing portfolio to continue financing our growth journey. As Filip mentioned, we have had another successful equity issue in December. There was a very high interest, not lease least from foreign investors, where we raised SEK 800 million with a premium of 25% to NAV and an eligible discount of 0.4% to the closing price. Another milestone reached in 2025 was that SLP share was included in the EPRA Index in September, which we are, of course, very happy and proud of. With that said, I will hand over to Filip again for some final words.

Thanks for that, Tommy. In summary, SLP is in a very strong position. We have a well-functioning strategy that has proven itself over time and undeniably produces good results, both in terms of NAV growth and growth in profit from property management per share. We are strong financially with banks that wanted to continue to grow with us with substantial cash flow, which means that we can take advantage of our business opportunities that come our way. All this together with our unique culture where we do that little extra means that I'm really looking forward to continuing SLP's journey in 2026. That was all for us today. If you have any questions, you are welcome to ask them via our info mail. Many thanks for listening.