Wallenstam AB (publ) (WALLB) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and welcome to Wallenstam's Conference Call for the Second Quarter and First Half of 2025. I'm Susann Linde, CFO and Head of Investor Relations. Here on this page, you can see our property in Kallebacks Block 6, where I have also become a property ambassador. We have a tradition where employees with long period of employment get to become ambassadors of a property. So now it was my turn after 24 years in the company. So I'm very proud, and I also think it's a very nice property. So what have we done during this second quarter? We sold building rights to OBOS in our urban development project Molnlycke Fabriker in an area where we have already built around 500 rental apartments. OBOS will now complement the neighborhood with approximately 120 co-hubs, something we see as a positive addition. During the quarter, we repurchased a total of 4 million of our own shares. We believe the share is trading at the discount and have therefore chosen to allocate some of our capital to this. We also signed an agreement for a block in the Forsaker urban development project, a consortium in Molndal, where we plan to build approximately 240 apartments. An important milestone is that we received a building permit for the new copper collar facade on the Sergelskrapan. The process has moved quickly, considering we took possession of the property in the late January this year. However, we cannot begin construction until the field process has been completed. Our property in Nacka Grace has received the 2024 Urban Design Award voted by the residents of Nacka; you see the property on this picture. The building has attracted a great deal of attention and several parties have approached us with interest in acquiring it. Following discussions with the Folksam Group, we recently signed an agreement with them for sale at a property value of SEK 822 million. The transfer will take place at the end of October. As before, half of our rental value comes from residential properties and the other half from commercial properties, with offices making up the largest share of the commercial segment; 1/3 of the portfolio's value is located in Stockholm and 2/3 in Gothenburg. We maintain a strong occupancy rate of 96% in total with 100% occupancy in residential units, 90% occupancy in commercial spaces. This reflects a stable demand for our offerings. However, as previously mentioned, we are seeing that commercial tenants are taking longer to sign new leases, which is understandable given the current uncertain market conditions. We are self-sufficient in renewable energy through our wind turbines. At the same time, we are continuously working to reduce energy consumption in our buildings. We focus on improving our energy performance ratings. And currently, 63% of our rental value comes from properties rated A to C. This is slightly lower than at year-end due to the divestment of properties during the quarter and the addition of Sergelskrapan, where we plan to implement energy-saving measures during the renovation. We have also launched an energy efficiency project in our properties in Racksta comprising around 900 apartments. The initiative will also contribute to improvements in our Scope 2 emissions, which is one of our climate targets. So let's move on to the income statement. Our net operating income continued to perform very well, and we are seeing a sustained positive earnings developments. In the areas we can influence during these times, we are doing an excellent job. Our net operating income for the first half of the year has increased by approximately 7%, and we are achieving a surplus ratio of 76%. But let us move on to the next slide and take a closer look at the details. As I said, NOI increased by 7%, SEK 75 million; of that, the rental income increased by SEK 104 million, which is 7% up as well. In the comparable holdings, the residentials grows on average 4% and the commercials by 1.6%. The total base rent increases by 2.5%. During the first half year, we have a net of onetime compensations of SEK 38 million because of compensation for early relocations. The operating expenses are increasing by almost 8%, SEK 29 million, where SEK 3 million of increase is because of the completed new construction. Regarding property maintenance, water and district heating, expenses increase is mainly because of increased property management than last year, but also because of tariff increases like earlier. Our energy-saving projects, which we have implemented, and are now seeing the effects of, are reducing our electricity costs by approximately SEK 6 million. In addition, lower electricity prices are contributing with a similar amount. So in total, we recognized an NOI of plus SEK 75 million and amounts to SEK 1.185 billion in total. We completed 139 apartments during the second quarter across 2 different projects, which we can see here. We have now fully completed our project, Alta Torg Block 1, where we finalized 85 apartments during the quarter. The property also includes commercial space on the ground floor and the entire building is fully let. We have continued progress on our project Adellovet in Farsta. During the quarter, we completed an additional 54 apartments here. And we have now 118 apartments remaining to be finalized in this project. If we look at the total income from property management, we recognized an increase by almost 17%, and the total income from property management of SEK 658 million, up by SEK 95 million. The administrative expenses has increased on the total by SEK 24 million compared to previous year. The increase is, like last quarter, mainly due to the new IT systems and also increased personnel expenses and expenses regarding security. The administrative expenses here in the income from property management are also affected last year by a rebooking of project costs as a one-off adjustment of SEK 7 million. The financial net is improving by 30% despite a higher average debt by SEK 2.7 billion compared last year. The average interest rate during this second quarter was 2.52%, which is 75 basis points lower compared to the same period last year, but the average interest rate of the closing date amounts to 2.51%. This figure has not decreased since the previous quarter, mainly because we have added new volume that is not interest hedged, and therefore, comes in as a variable. We have not made any additional hedges during the quarter, but we have continued to hold SEK 22 billion in interest rate swaps and now we have 63% of the loan volume interest rate hedged. We have less hedged than last quarter because of an increased loan volume, as I said, at the other picture. We have an average interest rate fixation period of 44 months. The interest coverage ratio during the quarter is 2.7x. Returning to the main income statement. Let's move past in NOI and take a look at the result before changes in value, which increased by SEK 140 million. I've already commented on most of this. But as you can see here, we have a total administrative expenses increase of SEK 24 million before group adjustments. But let us move on to the value changes. If we start by commenting on the changes in value of properties, we recognized a net value increase of SEK 337 million and that is mainly an effect of higher net operating income and completed new constructions. We haven't adjusted any direct yield requirements during the quarter. And the value changes in financial instruments is amounting to minus SEK 534 million for this second quarter because of the decreased loan interest rates during this quarter, while we recognize a minus result for this isolated quarter. In total, for the half year, it's minus SEK 435 million. In total, we recognized a profit after tax of SEK 557 million compared to previous year SEK 408 million, and it's for the first half year. We still have a stable balance sheet with an equity ratio of 43% and an LTV of 48%. Our investment properties has a value of SEK 69 billion, properties in operation has a value of almost SEK 64 billion and projects in progress and land for future new construction amounts to SEK 5 billion. As I said before, we haven't adjusted our direct yield requirements. The effective yield requirements are now 4.6% on average for commercials and 3.6% for residentials like last quarter. 56% of the property value is in residentials and the other part in commercials. Transactions have had a net positive impact on the value of the properties of SEK 1.8 billion. In total this year, we have invested SEK 1 billion in our new and reconstruction in the first half year, which is some lower compared to last year. We haven't started any new construction in this second quarter, which means we have this under construction right now, like you see on the next page. We have 1,038 apartments under construction and the 2 projects that we started last quarter were Sten Stures kroningar with 39 apartments in the Central Gothenburg and Block 1 in Kallebacks -- kvarter 1 in Kallebacks. And if we switch to the equity and interest-bearing liabilities. We have increased our interest-bearing liabilities by approximately SEK 400 million during the quarter. They amount to SEK 33 billion. We still have a stable balance sheet with an equity of 43% and an LTV of 48%. The NAV amounts to SEK 58.3 per share. We now look forward to a strong second half of 2025, using these figures as a starting point. So that was all for today. And please contact me if you have some questions; otherwise, I wish you a good summer and see you next half of 2025. Thank you for listening.