Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. This is Hernán San Pedro. Welcome to our business update presentation. On this occasion, as in Q1, the presentation will be limited to a brief summary of the quarter made by Jon Armentia, Corporate Director and CFO of Lar España. As usual, Miguel Pereda, Chairman of Grupo Lar, and José Manuel Llovet , Chief Executive Officer of Commercial Real Estate of Grupo Lar, are connected, too, to the call. Given Lar España commitment to transparency, we have continued to maintain a high level of financial communication despite the modification introduced by the law making quarterly reporting no longer mandatory. As always, the press release has been sent and the presentation, which includes a review of the operating performance, financial and ESG information, are available on the web for consultation and in the CNMV website.
After the presentation, we will answer any questions you may have. Now, let me hand the call over to Jon Armentia, who will give a brief summary of the results, which, as you will see below, remain solid both at operating and financial level despite the pandemic.
Thank you, Hernán, and good morning, everybody. First of all, I would like to thank all of you for being here for this business update. As you can see in slide four, 2021 is proving to be a very active year at corporate level. We started the year by divesting the Eroski supermarket portfolio for EUR 59 million, strengthening our cash position. This operation contributed a 24% capital gain. Subsequently, the shareholders meeting was held in April, at which the distribution of a dividend of EUR 0.71 per share was approved and paid later in May. In June, we renewed our internal management agreement, further improving the good conditions that govern our relationship with Grupo Lar.
Finally, this year, we issued two green bonds, one in July for EUR 400 million and another in November for EUR 300 million, which have increased the maturity of our debt to more than six years and have left the average cost at 1.8%. As can be seen, it has been a very intense year for the company. Moving to slide five, as you can see from the graphs, the company's performance has been very good despite the pandemic. We currently have 100% of our GLA open and have had 53.2 million visits so far this year. Regarding sales, in the month of September, the figure was 7% higher than 2020 and 4% higher than 2018, our pre-pandemic year, proving the company's resiliency.
If we look at the occupancy, we can see that levels have remained stable, recovering quickly from the closures that occurred during the hardest moments of the lockdown. I would also like to point out that we already have 100% of our leasable area open. One of the pillars at Lar España has always been to maintain a solid and fluid relationship with our tenants. Thanks to this, we reached agreements with most of them during the pandemic, and 97% of full 2020 rents have already been collected. In the first nine months of 2021, we are seeing the fruits of all the actions taken during the pandemic. These have led to very good results, both operationally and financially.
Our gross rental income has reached EUR 60.4 million, and the net result returns to black figures, reaching EUR 14.3 million. If we look at our assets, occupancy remains stable at 95%, and as of October, 91% of all rents have been collected. At corporate level, as we mentioned at the beginning, two green bonds have been issued, one in July for EUR 400 million and a coupon at 1.75%, and another in November for EUR 300 million and at 1.84% coupon. This has improved the company's financial profile, extending maturities to more than six years and achieving an average cost of debt of 1.8%. At Lar España, we are particularly proud of the work done by our teams. All this effort has positioned us as a prominent player across the European retail market.
At operational level, we stand out both in terms of occupancy and rent collection. In the financial area, we have one of the lowest average cost of debt, and our loan to value is among the best. Undoubtedly, one of the data that reflects the good management of the company in these difficult times is the minimal variation of -0.4% in the valuation of our assets compared to the -3.9% that our European competitors have experienced on average. I would also like to highlight once again the investment opportunity that Lar España represents.
In terms of dividends, we are one of the three companies with highest dividend payouts in the Spanish stock market. In terms of share buyback, through the three programs we have carried out, we have redeemed 13.4% of the share capital, which also makes us one of the companies that have redeemed the most capital in the Spanish stock market. In conclusion, we are a company with good results, a solid financial position, and deeply committed to the profitability of our shareholders. Finally, I would like to point out that all these good results have always been obtained with a focus on ESG. For us, ESG is part of our DNA and permits all the actions we carry out at Lar España. We could not understand our activity without taking into account the impact and value we create for society and our stakeholders.
In slide nine, you can see some of the most important milestones we have achieved in this area so far this year. We certainly hope to continue advancing in this direction, always putting into practice the best trends. This is it. Thank you for your attention, and now we can open the Q&A session.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to make a question, please use the webcast functionality tab Ask a Question. I now hand over the call to Hernán San Pedro.
Okay. Thank you very much, Jon. We have some questions here. First of all, one question from my side. "Until when we can expect the effect on GRI of the COVID renegotiated rents to last?" Probably Jon.
Okay. Thank you for your question. Well, it depends if we speak about P&L or if we speak about cash flow. In terms of cash flow, as you know, in 2020, we had EUR 22 million effect. As in this first nine months, we have had around EUR 4 million, and we expect to increase this figure by the end of the year, but not significantly over this amount. In terms of cash flow, from 2022, we don't expect to have an additional impact.
In terms of P&L, as you know, as we have to divide, sorry, the effect of this lease incentive in our P&L during the entire term of the lease agreements, we will have this effect. We have started to have this effect in 2021 in our P&L, and we expect to have it in the coming years also. As you know, this won't be a cash flow effect, so, well, it's something that we can explain perfectly following IFRS standards.
Thank you, Jon. The second one is from Sell Side. "Good morning t hank you for taking my question. Is the 10.27 EUR share EPRA NTA adjusted by the recent capital reduction?" Thanks. Jon, please.
Okay. Thank you for your question. Yes, it's adjusted. In that figure we have excluded the share capital. The share capital reduction.
Thank you very much. Another question. "Can you give us any color about the final results of the present year in the valuation side and in the operating side?" José Manuel and Miguel.
Well, from the valuation side, and I will pass now the work to José Manuel, but I think that from the valuation side, we are quite optimistic in the sense that we are not expecting material changes from the last valuations that we had. I mean, talking to valuers, following what's happening in the market, we don't see major changes for year-end. José Manuel, I don't know if you want to talk a little bit about
Yes, well.
The last quarter.
Yeah, a couple of ideas. One, about valuations, what Miguel said before, stability. It is also true that the centers have been improved during the COVID. We have taken advantage of the time of the closing. As I have mentioned in previous calls, we have done a lot of improvements in the centers. The rents are moving up. This is going to have a good impact in the valuation. In the operational side, we are much better than month before. We are seeing a clear recovery in the number of visits, also obviously in sales.
In visits, just to give you fresh information, in the last month of December, month to date, we are 2.3% above 2019. This is very good news. We have seen what I always said, is the customer have returned to the center once they have been open. Now, we are in a moment of normalization of the situation, of course, depending on the things that could happen with the pandemic. We are very positive. We see a lot of stabilization in the centers in terms of operations, sales, and visits. We are quite positive right now.
Thank you very much, Miguel and José Manuel. Another question from Buy Side. "Good afternoon c ould you please give us the outstanding number of shares now, including and excluding treasury shares? Second, when will you make a decision concerning another buyback or potential acquisition?" The first part of the question for Jon. The second part, another share buyback and potential share buyback or new acquisition for Miguel.
Okay. In relation to the number of shares, once that we finish the reduction of the share capital, the number will be 83 million of shares. 692 ,000 shares after this share capital reduction.
Well, that's as you know, we always say we are not in the business of buying shares, but it's something that we always consider at the board level as a tool that the company have. It's reviewed in every board meeting. We don't have a date, and we don't have a decision, but it's something that is reviewed regularly.
Thank you very much, Jon, Miguel. David, can you please remind the people how they can send the questions?
Yes. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have any more question, please submit them using the webcast functionality Ask a Question.
There are no more questions. Thank you very much for attending the call. Remember that, all the teams at Lar España are at your disposal for any additional information you could need, in the future. Thank you very much and good afternoon. Bye-bye.