Thank you. I'd now like to welcome Dr. Gary Weiss, Chair of the Board, to begin the conference. Dr. Weiss, over to you.
Thank you, and welcome to everyone on today's call. I would like to open today's meeting by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the lands on which we meet today and pay my respects to their elders, past, present, and emerging. I speak from the Gadigal lands of the Eora Nation. Welcome to Cromwell Property Group's financial results update for the half year period ended 31 December 2022. We acknowledge the tough environment that Cromwell is currently operating in. Today, I would like to focus on how the Cromwell team, led by Jonathan Callaghan, has navigated through this environment and put in place a stable and committed team with clear goals and objectives and an operating platform designed to achieve success. I'm pleased to report that Cromwell's assets under management remain at $12 billion with ongoing positive activity.
We have seen good progress towards the simplification of Cromwell's operating structure, improved staff retention and engagement scores, and continuing focus on balance sheet management via the execution of non-core asset sales. This is reflective of Cromwell's long-standing ability to adapt and continue to drive success through complex market conditions. The board remains focused on the next stages of growth for Cromwell. We do this mindful of the headwinds the group faces across the regions in which we operate, as high interest rates impact valuations and confidence stalls in investment markets. We move forward cautiously, focused on reinforcing our balance sheet while rigorously assessing potential growth opportunities. I now hand over to Jonathan to review the activities for the first half of the financial year ended 31 December 2022.
Thank you, Gary. Cromwell has achieved some important milestones in not only the six months since our last update, but also in the last year and a half since we went through a period of company-wide change, defining a new strategy and having to adjust and pivot to suit changing economic conditions. Looking at slide seven, which is an overview of our strategic summary, we remain focused on continuing to strengthen our business and transition to a capital-light fund manager. We will apply our long-standing skills of managing well-located assets and continuing to improve them through leasing efforts and repositioning. We continue to focus on non-core asset sales, which are well progressed. We particularly note the exit of our position in LDK, which has substantially simplified our balance sheet back to our core business of real estate.
As a people-driven business, we continue our focus on being an employer of choice, placing huge emphasis on diversity, quality, and inclusion. We've redefined our values and reset our corporate strategy. Importantly, as part of these reflective processes, we've also refreshed and redefined Cromwell's environmental, social, and governance or our ESG ambitions, setting targets which we believe are impactful and achievable, outlined at a headline level on slide 10, and more information is available in our 2022 ESG report available to view on our website. We turn to our financial summary on slide eight. Our global AUM remains at AUD 12 billion, split equally across our platforms. It remains a high weighting to global office markets, but we expect an increased exposure to industrial and logistics sectors as investor demand for these asset classes far outstrips that for office.
During the last six-month period, there have been substantial challenges posed by changes in the macroeconomic environments in which we operate. For the half-year ended 31 December, 2022, Cromwell reports a statutory loss of AUD 129.5 million, due largely to revaluations, and an operating profit of AUD 87.1 million, which benefited from the performance of our funds management platform. Michael will talk shortly about our financial performance in more detail, although I will note that we have a keen focus on the liability side of our balance sheet, and we are managing our debt and hedging positions very closely. We are comfortable with the current positions, although we are aware during global economic challenges this is a time to be prudent. We can quickly adapt and adjust when needed.
I will now hand over to Michael to talk more about the group's overall financial performance and capital management.
Thank you, Jonathan. I'll start on slide 12. Cromwell reports a statutory loss of AUD 129.5 million for the six months to 31 December, 2022. This was the result of AUD 113.3 million in unrealized fair value losses on investment properties in Australia, where market-wide valuation impacts are being felt. Our Polish Retail portfolio has also experienced both surging energy costs and valuation impacts felt across the wider European retail sector, both amplified, in this case, by the neighboring war in Ukraine. The Polish Retail portfolio recorded AUD 68.1 million in unrealized fair value losses. We report an operating profit of AUD 87.1 million for the period of six months to 31 December, 2022, which was 10% down on the prior corresponding period of AUD 96.4 million.
The half-year operating profit is equivalent to AUD 0.0333 per security, down 10% on the prior corresponding period. On a like for like basis, excluding asset sales, net operating income from the Australian property portfolio was up 2.7%. Performance of the funds management platform improved on prior reporting period, with an operating profit of AUD 27.2 million, up from AUD 22.7 million for December 2021. This was offset by lower total net operating income in the Australian investment portfolio, following the sale of non-core assets during the second half of FY22, lower operating profits from the Cromwell Polish retail portfolio, and increased finance costs. Turning to segmented results on slide 13, I'll start with growth in our funds and asset management business, reporting AUD 27.2 million in segment profit.
The European business generated an operating profit of AUD 4.6 million as a result of higher recurring fee income and performance fee income. Fund and asset management revenue includes the AUD 7.7 million profit made from the sale of our interest in LDK, which included a payment of AUD 20 million for our equity interest. The Australian funds management business saw no transaction or performance fees during the period. Returns from our co-investment positions were down by 6% compared with the prior corresponding period. Our long-term position in the Cromwell European REIT, listed on the Singapore Exchange, showed resilience, with our share of operating profit being AUD 20.1 million versus the AUD 21.6 million for the prior corresponding period. We received distributions of AUD 19.8 million during the half year.
The Cromwell Italy Urban Logistics Fund performed well through the half year, with sole tenant DHL continuing to report robust transport demand. Valuations were slightly up, and operating profit was $1.1 million. This portfolio is now being actively marketed for either sale or co-investment. Cromwell Polish Retail Fund suffered valuation impacts during the half year period. As is well known across Europe, retail assets have been impacted by rising inflation and rising energy costs. These cost increases are compounded by the war in neighboring Ukraine. All asset values fell during the period, down 9.8% compared with the June 2022 valuations. This portfolio continues to be marketed for sale. I'll now turn to capital management outlined on slide 14. Owing to the combination of valuation softening and timing of LDK loan repayments, our gearing is at 41.8%, marginally outside our gearing range.
We anticipate this to be restored once the LDK loans are repaid, and from the use of the proceeds from the sale of our asset at 84 Crown Street, Wollongong. As we continue through the process of selling non-core assets, we will be focused on applying these sale proceeds in the first instance to debt repayment to ensure we maintain a strong balance sheet. We have a manageable debt expiry profile, with only a small amount of offshore debt expiring next financial year. Cromwell continues to enjoy solid banking from domestic and global banks. This was validated by the extensions late in this period of EUR 250 million of the EUR-denominated revolver, and a three-year extension on $200 million of Cromwell's Australian facilities. Liquidity remains high, with AUD 294 million available on demand.
58% of our current book is hedged against future interest rates at an average 2.2-year term, providing ongoing security in the current environment. Hedging is up from 2.1 years at June 30, 2022, through an additional three new forward starting interest rate caps, one of which commenced in December 2022, and the remaining two commenced in July 2023, maturing in July 2024 and July 2025, respectively. We continue to monitor our position closely and will increase our hedging when the current global market dislocations create the best opportunity to do so. This will be managed in line with non-core asset sales. Jonathan, I now hand back to you to review the segment updates in more detail.
Thanks, Michael. Starting on slide 17, outlining our fund and asset management activities, we report that our European platform has closed three new non-discretionary mandates. Two mandates are focused on German and Nordics logistics, and one is a Pan-European mandate. Deployment has started, with several assets contracted to settle in the first quarter of 2023, totaling approximately EUR 300 million. All revenue streams reported growth in Europe, generating an operating profit of AUD 4.6 million, up from December 2021 loss of AUD 800,000. Included in this profit figure are performance fees of AUD 3.8 million. In Australia, our retail funds management platform generated AUD 3.3 million of operating profit, down from AUD 9.9 million in the prior corresponding period, driven largely by the absence of transactional and performance fees.
Within the Cromwell Diversified Fund, all assets were externally valued during the reporting period, resulting in revaluations down of 2.8% to $633 million on a like-to-like basis, trading Canberra, which was sold for $18.2 million at a 3.9% premium to book value. The DPF suffered a decline of inflows from the prior corresponding period, down to $16 million of net inflows. This was driven by market sentiment around inflation, which led to reduced new investments. We remain focused on careful asset selection in key locations for this portfolio and continue to assess various growth opportunities. Outlined on slide 22, co-investment income over the period was down slightly. In DPF, our position was valued at $18.9 million, down approximately $1 million. This position remains a long-term strategic commitment for Cromwell.
Cromwell's 28% stake in C-REIT is carried at book value of $573.6 million and received operating profit of just over $20 million for the six months to 31 December 2022. We consider this position important to Cromwell's ongoing strategy and continue to support C-REIT's pivot to logistics in Europe. Currently, almost 50% of its portfolio, Cromwell's active asset management experience can add and enhance value. We continue to refine the compositions of the Australian Investment Portfolio outlined in slides 25-27, selling non-core assets, the process of which are prioritized to repay debt. Portfolio occupancy remains strong at 95.6% by income, a WALE of 5.6 years, and weighted average cap rate of 5.4%.
The portfolio maintains a strong weighting of more than 50% to government tenants, providing high income security in volatile markets with very low and manageable levels of lease expiries in the next few years. Leasing activity remained solid during the half year, with 18,500 square meters of renegotiated or new leases struck and weighted average rent increases, as a result of annual rent increases or rent reviews of 4.5%. This reflects positivity on our strategy of having well-managed, well-located assets in this portfolio and the strength of our in-house team. A key focus on our portfolio is active asset management, which has been Cromwell's strong suit for many, many years. The incremental upgrades, refurbishments, and additions we identify through strong tenant engagement and market intel is what sets us aside and is reflected in our strong portfolio metrics.
On slide 26, we have outlined a few of these initiatives and the subsequent successes we have found in a market full of commentary around the retreat from CBD offers and large-scale downsizing. The relationships the team has directly with our tenants and the capability to position our assets to meet tenant needs sees us outperform. Looking forward, we continue to move forward with our strategy of becoming a capital-light fund manager. We will continue to focus on simplification of the business, particularly the sale of assets in Cromwell Polish Retail Fund and the Cromwell Italy Urban Logistics Fund, with the process to be applied to reduce gearing to acceptable levels before disciplined strategic redeployments into growth activities. In the immediate coming months, we will continue to ensure the stability of our balance sheet, closely monitoring and managing debt and hedging.
As always, our active asset management and leasing will continue to bolster asset management activities globally with an invigorated focus on ESG considerations. We expect to pay a distribution of AUD 0.01375 per security for the March 2023 quarter, while we prudently manage distributions to account for current market conditions, overlaid with any timing lag between asset sales and redeployment. Thank you all for dialing into today's update. I want to hand back to the conference operator to open to questions.
Thank you to all speakers. At this time, I would like to remind everyone, in order to ask a question, press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. Your first question comes from the line of Solomon Zhang from J.P. Morgan. Your line is open.
Afternoon, Jonathan and team. Two questions from me. Firstly, just on the Polish retail assets, as you called out, pretty challenging environment with inflation in the teens and discretionary sales down quite a bit. Can you perhaps just discuss the operating performance of those assets and also the lease structures? Are any CPI linked or are they mostly fixed?
Yeah, happy to talk about that. The Polish portfolio is performing satisfactorily. The biggest headwinds it faces are the outgoing increases as a result of the energy situation in Poland, particularly the gas pricing. There are caps on the outgoings that we can receive from tenants, and many of those caps are being hit. That's providing a bit of headwind. The other big headwind is the debt associated with those assets. The Euribor in particular has sort of gone from zero to about 2.6 in the space of 6 months, and that's provided a little bit of headwind. Generally speaking, the performance of the assets, the footfall, the turnover is all returning back to pre-COVID levels.
It's not quite there on, footfall yet, but it's approaching it. Generally speaking, the assets are performing quite well. In relation to increases in the leases.
CPI.
Are they CPI? They're generally CPI linked.
Great. Just on occupancy, is that still?
Just be clear, they're CPI linked to-
Okay
... to European CPI, not the Polish CPI, and they have caps.
Yeah. What would the caps be set at, roughly speaking?
the caps on the CPI increases?
Yeah. They use this cost of living calculation in Poland.
It's all to do with, you know, equity to the retail tenants, and how much we can pass on. It varies depending on the size of the tenant.
Great. Second question, just on the AUM outlook for the EU fund business. Could you just give us a feel for how quickly you expect to deploy that EUR 1.9 billion in mandate capacity in this current environment? Also, could you discuss the upcoming expires of any mandates that might be rolling out over the next couple of years?
Sure. The biggest expiry will be the CPRF to the Polish retail assets that we're selling. That will be pretty much the only material expiry in the next few years. In terms of deployment, of the dry powder, I'd be hesitant to really say how quickly we can deploy that. It depends upon a number of factors. First is that these are non-discretionary mandates, so the person who grants the mandate has final say on whether or not to invest it. Whilst activity is returning to the European market, it is still fair to say that it is a little bit muted at the moment.
Great. Thanks for that.
A quick reminder before we move on to the next question. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Your next question comes from the line of Alexander Prineas from Morningstar. Your line is open.
Thank you, thanks for the presentation. First of all, just wondering, with the, you know, the NABERS Energy and Water Ratings, clearly, you know, there's quite a few 5.5 and 6-star ratings in there, which is good to see. What would it take to get the remainder of the lower-rated buildings up to 5.5 or 6 stars? Is that incremental spend, or are some of those buildings never sort of likely to be able to achieve those types of ratings?
Yeah, I mean, I don't think I can give you a specific answer, but I can give you a general answer. I mean, generally speaking, you know, most of the things that you can spend money on to bring up the NABERS rating is effectively the, your lighting, the sort of lighting you put in. It's your lifting, and it's your HVAC. They're the sort of the three big ones in terms of operational efficiencies. You know, all of those things are, have to be replaced over time. A lot of the efficiencies that you'll get from, you know, upgrading the assets, those expenses are already cashed or basically already typically picked up in the valuation, depending upon when it's being spent.
Naturally, over a period of time, we do expect an improvement in the NABERS ratings for all of the assets, particularly the lower. These are general comments. It becomes more difficult when you need to start doing things to the façade, and that the issue is the façade or the glass in the façade. Generally speaking, we do expect the lower-rated assets to improve over time, naturally.
Can you maybe just elaborate on, yeah, how, like, how many of the buildings need those more significant façade works?
I would have to take that question offline, Alex.
Okay.
Um, but
No worries. Yeah, that's okay. Just on the, you know, the significant portion of the portfolio that is occupied by government tenants, can you comment on what the sort of employee presentee rate is or the utilization rate? I guess I'm just trying to get a feel for, you know, when those leases are great to have and rock solid, but when the lease expires, yeah, I'm sort of looking at, yeah, what indicators I can look at to see whether that lease is likely to be renewed.
Yeah. Yeah, no, I understand. The short answer is, particularly, I mean, I think we don't have a great indication of the presenteeism in those particular buildings. What I would say is that I haven't seen government tenants shrinking yet.
Okay.
Over the last day, maybe adapting to different ways of working, you know, the one or the density, I guess, of the requirements that we have set in the market have increased rather than decreased.
Okay, thanks. Just to follow up on the, you know, the new mandates as well, are you able to comment on? They're non-discretionary mandates. Can you elaborate on what that means versus you sort of so fees in terms of, compared to your existing book of FUM, what sort of proportion of FUM, or profitability level these new mandates are likely to be once deployed?
The current FUM in Europe, in euro is EUR 2.233 billion?
Yeah. AUD three and a half billion.
Three and a half billion euro. About EUR 500 million of that is in the European, in the Polish assets that are on the market, roughly. You're looking at sort of, if you take that into account, it shrinks to EUR 3 billion. That gives you an idea of scale of those mandates.
No.
What does it mean?
Yeah, I'm just looking for, you know, potential fee levels on the new mandates versus existing.
They vary. They vary, but they're certainly not as high as the C-REIT fee loads. These would be typical non-discretionary mandate style fees, which sort of range between 20-35 basis points.
Okay, thank you. That's it from me.
Your next question comes from the line of Fiona Buchanan from Morgans. Your line is open.
Oh, hi, Jonathan. Just on the retail, I guess more domestic retail, obviously, there was a comment not unexpected that inflows were a bit softer. Just any comment around what you're seeing, I guess, in the last few months, around more the retail distribution side?
I'm sorry, Fiona, the last few months?
Just what you've seen, if there have been any changes in the last couple of months on what you're seeing on the domestic retail inflows with those funds you've got.
Yeah. They definitely have been slowing down, the inflows, but they're still present. I mean, really, if I give a sort of a rough number, I mean, because it all depends upon, you know, a number of different ways, but I would say that the gross inflows are down about 40%.
Thanks so much.