Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Lar España first half 2022 result presentation. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Hernán San Pedro, Lar España Investor Relations and Corporate Communication Director. Please go ahead, Hernán.
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. This is Hernán San Pedro. Welcome to our first half 2022 results presentation. As always, the press release has been sent and the presentation of financial report are also available on website and at the Lar España official site. Presenting for us today are Miguel Pereda, Vice Chairman of Lar España and Chairman of Grupo Lar, José Manuel Llovet, Chief Executive Officer of Commercial Real Estate of Grupo Lar, and Jon Armentia, Corporate Director and CFO of Lar España. After the presentation, we will answer any questions you may have. Now, let me hand the call over to Miguel Pereda.
Thank you, Hernán, and good afternoon, everybody. First of all, I would like to thank all of you for being here with us for our first half 2022 results. I will like to begin with some comments about the current macro situation. Despite the fact that most agency have reduced GDP growth estimated worldwide for the coming year, it is important to highlight that the growth, the expected growth of the Spanish economy is still very relevant. With regard to inflation, although energy costs have had a very negative influence on the evolution, the European Union predicts a return to normality for 2023. Another element that I would like to mention is that in Spain, for the first time, we have surpassed the 20 million social security contributors. Since the coronavirus crisis, contributions have been increasing and the outlook is clearly positive.
The Spanish economy is capable to create jobs at GDP growth levels of 2%. If we focus on the real estate sector, experts also agree on resiliency of the industry. The forecast for retail sales growth are strong, both in the Eurozone and also in Spain, and the same for the growth of rents in the shopping centers. We have a forecast of 2.8% for the growth in Spain between 2021 and 2025. If we turn to the next slide number eight, I think we can see some very interesting data. Much has been said over the years about the declining trend of malls in the United States. Many predicted that the same would happen in Spain.
As you can see there, the realities of the two countries are quite different. The shopping center sector in the U.S. was already in a maturity phase at that time. In Spain, we are far from that point, with 0.34 sq m per inhabitants versus the 2.35 in the U.S. In addition to that, shopping centers in Spain are much more modern, and we dedicate much more space to activities like leisure and restaurants, which cannot be done digitally. The penetration of e-commerce in Spain, despite the pandemic, is still far from the rates in the U.S. and also in comparison with other European countries. As can be seen in the graphs, the performance of both footfall and sales, very important metrics for us, have been truly remarkable.
Average sales and footfall are already above those existing before the COVID crisis. All in all, we see very good prospects for the sector in the coming years. In this what we consider positive environment, Lar España has obtained also very positive results. Jon Armentia will explain all the figures in detail, but I would like to highlight the increase in all lines of the profit and loss account that the company has experienced in these six months. That, as I said, Jon will cover in detail later on. In addition, important to remark that our financial position remains very solid, and we have even lowered our LTV to the level of 39.8%.
This, of course, is the result of the decisions and also the implementation from the management that we have carried out during this period after the pandemic. All this, together with the quality of our portfolio, have allowed us to be, I think, in a privileged position in the market. As can be seen in slide number 10, Lar España stands out from its main European competitors in most of the key indicators that we use in the sector. I also would like to highlight a few things in relation to 2022. In these six months of this year, we have kept the highest health standards during those six months.
As you probably know, we have also celebrated our Analyst Day that happened in June, and we have reinforced the communication about what is our business plan and how we are going to implement it. Improved capital structure through the issuance of two green bonds has also been key. Extending the maturity and improving the cost of our debt. I think that is a special important aspect in those days. Our financial position, apart from debt, is excellent, also in terms of our cash position. Our tenant relations remain one of the pillars of our strategy, and we have no cases of litigation at the moment. Thanks to the good decisions taken and also implemented by the company, we are prepared to face the challenges that will happen in the near future, having obtained remarkable operational results in that six months period.
Our portfolio is now 100% refurbished, and we have very solid valuations as we will see later. All our contracts are indexed to inflation, and the average ticket of our center is low to medium, so it's not expected to suffer much from a negative evolution of consumption if it happened. With regard to energy, all costs, as you know, are passed to our tenants, and we have been working heavily and keeping reducing our consumptions quarter by quarter. Our debt, 100% fixed at a rate of 1.8%, so we are protected for our rising interest rates. That will not have a significant impact on the company cost of debt. Also, 25% of our GLA is linked to very core activities with which are always more resilient to possible downturn.
Finally, I would like to highlight four major milestones that have occurred during those six months. First, as we said, the celebration of our Analyst Day, where we present our business plan with ambitious objectives, not only in the business point of view, but also on the ESG point of view. On the other hand, we had the reconfirmation of Fitch for our BBB rating. In terms of shareholders remuneration, we paid a dividend of EUR 0.36 per share. That represents a dividend yield of 7%. Finally, I would like to highlight the strength of our assets, the strength of our portfolio, whose valuations have increased by 4.1% compared to June last year. Now, I hand over to José Manuel that will go in more detail on the major operational milestones of this period.
Thank you, Miguel. Hello, everyone. We start with a combination of pages 14 and 15. You know our portfolio. All dominant assets in their catchment areas, low competition existing and future. A strong and resilient retail parks and shopping centers. You know that additional to our dominant centers, we own the biggest portfolio of retail parks in Spain and one of the best in Europe. There is nothing comparable in Spain by far, precise quality, location, tenants, and regional dominance. We have fully refurbished centers, some remarkable transformations, and new differential developments, all with a sustainability certification of BREEAM, excellent or very good. Very high levels of occupancy. The most important, we have the best retailers per activity in Spain. This last point is quite differential within the Spanish market.
Main retailers' success is based on its scale, competitive prices, innovation strategy, and a strong distribution chains. These retailers are growing very fast and increasing market share, which results also in an increase of our market share of our retail parks and shopping centers compared with other competitors and other retail formulas. Recall that in global numbers, one of every five euros of families' consumption is spent in a shopping center in Spain. We could say that the secret of the company's good performance is our resilience in times of pandemic, which is concentrated in this slide. Only with a portfolio of these characteristics, you can face the pandemic and get ready to face new challenges to come. On page 16, you see one of the best examples of the quality of our portfolio.
This is Lagoh Shopping Center in Seville, which has recently been awarded as the best shopping center in Spain by the Spanish Association of Shopping Centers and Parks. Lagoh has been built according to the highest standards of sustainability and efficiency, and has undoubtedly become the leader in the great Seville area. It is a destination shopping and family entertainment center in Andalusia. Now, please pay attention to slide number 17. This is the key operational data. We have to say that it has been a very strong semester. Important to highlight our income flow security with more than 60% of the contracts maturing beyond 2025. Also very remarkable increase of sales, +21.3% compared with 2021 and +11.2% versus 2019. Footfall is 13.8% versus H1 2021 and -6.9% and improving on 2019.
Our leasing activity has also sped up. We let more than 26,000 sq m in these six months, signing 73 operations at 10% annual rotation rate. EUR 5.1 million in rents were negotiated, and a 2.2% increase in rent was achieved. At this point, it is important to note that the effort rate stands at 9.4%, recovering 2019 levels. All this, by the way, while keeping a very high occupation rate above 95%. In page 18, we see good examples of the leasing operations. We have signed 45 renewals with an increase of 1% compared with previous rentals. In terms of reletting, we can highlight operations such as Pepco in Portal de la Marina or Mango in Gran Via de Vigo.
A total of 19 new contracts were signed with an increase in rents of 9.3%. There is here a special remark to our deals with Inditex this semester. I think this is important to explain. Pull&Bear extension and a new concept in El Rosal and Asturias. Stradivarius extension in Albac enter. Massimo Dutti renovation and new concept in Ànecblau and Portal de la Marina. All these in six months. They are good examples of how Inditex reinforce its position in our centers, that they have been doing during the last years because of the quality of the assets and the management focus in the experiential economy. In page 19, just to say that, despite the difficulties and focus on rents and sales, we are accelerating all the innovation process.
At Lar, we are fully aware of the new trends in the retail sector and the needs of customers. This is why we work every day to adapt our assets and to offer our tenants solutions to facilitate this transition to the omnichannel world. We have strengthened the CRM customer loyalty program and extend its coverage. We are maximizing information on retailers through the retail customer journey. We have implemented the smart shopping center project that allow us to find out more about the behavior of customers in our shopping centers. Also, incorporated the phygital concept through the sale of products in our digital showroom via the center apps, WhatsApp, and social media. The final target that we are already implementing is gathering and classifying all the information as a service for our retailers and potential new source of income for the company.
At the end, the operational summary is that we have had an outstanding first half of the year with high invoicing and collection of rents, recovery of visits, and clearly above in sales. A strong and sustainable leasing activity. Excellent performance of our main retailers. Increasing market share in all our influence areas. Lagoh awarded as the best center by the Spanish Association of Shopping Centers as it was Vidanova two years ago. Beating again the market in KPIs and improving the valuation results. We are ready for facing the challenges in front of us, thanks again to the quality of our assets that react better and quicker to the crisis as it has been proved during the last three years, and a fully dedicated professional management team. Now, let me turn the word to our CFO, Jon Armentia.
Thank you, José Manuel, and good afternoon, everyone. Let's start by looking at the slide 21, and I will run you through the highlights of the first half of 2022. We have had good results in terms of both raw rental income, EUR 42.1 million, and net operating income, EUR 35.5 million, both figures increasing significantly versus the previous year's figures. Also noteworthy is the improvement in net profit that reaches EUR 54.9 million, more than seven times higher than the figure in the first half of 2021. Gross asset value increased to EUR 1.5 billion with a positive variation of 4.1% compared to June 2021. EPRA NTA per share reaches EUR 10.72, at 5.4% higher than in the first half of 2021.
When analyzing the evolution of this figure, it's important to take into account the dividend paid in May, EUR 0.36 per share. As José Manuel commented earlier, the collection figures are also doing very well, reaching to levels of 96%. Our assets are performing better than the Spanish and European markets, and at the end of June, we present an EPRA top-up net initial yield of 5.8% and an occupancy rate of 95.3%. WALT stands at 2.6 years, with 60% of the retail leases with expiration dates beyond 2025. On the corporate side, the last annual general meeting approved the distribution of EUR 30 million in dividends or EUR 0.36 per share based on 2021 results that was paid in May. This means a 7% dividend yield over market cap.
Our cash position is close to EUR 215 million as of June 2022, and in terms of leverage, our net loan to value decreased to 39.8% with an average cost of debt of 1.8%. Moving on to slide 23. In relation to ESG, you all know how important it is in Lar España. Although you can find more details of our policies and achievements in our 2021 annual report and in our half-yearly results report, I would like to mention some of them here. Firstly, I would like to highlight that we have maintained a BBB ESG rating from MSCI. We continue to carry out actions that have a positive impact on the communities where we operate, developing an action plan to contribute to the priority SDGs for Lar España.
Our commitment to governance remains very strong, and we are constantly updating our policies to adapt them to new recommendations. Thanks to this, the company continues in compliance with 100% recommendations of the CNMV Good Governance Code. Our commitments to the environment are increasingly ambitious. Currently, 100% of the energy consumed by Lar España is guaranteed to be of renewable origin. In relation to the carbon footprint, we are currently registering our 2021 activities in order to obtain the Reduzco seal from the government. Regarding BREEAM certifications, 100% of our portfolio is certified, three assets with an Excellence seal, 10 with Very Good, and one with Good. As we can see in slide 24, Lar España's debt profile after the two green bond issuances for EUR 700 million is remarkable.
As of June 2022, the net financial debt amounted to EUR 585 million, with a net loan to value that decreased to 39.8%. The average maturity and the average cost of debt are 5.2 years and 1.8% respectively, with 100% of the debt unencumbered, green, and what is very important nowadays, at a fixed rate. Now, in slide 25, I would like to highlight the fact that Fitch has reaffirmed its BBB rating with a stable outlook. Several factors have played a role in obtaining this excellent rating. The dominance of our assets, the improvement of occupancy levels, the high recurrence of revenue over the past year, and the conservative profile of our debt. We have an excellent track record, and our business model has proven to be resilient through the cycles.
All this coupled with an experienced management team that is backed by top-tier institutional shareholders, not to mention our strong commitment to ESG. Let's now look at the portfolio valuation in slide 26. Lar España's gross asset value grows to EUR 1.5 billion. The total portfolio has risen 53.6% versus acquisition price, 4.1% since June 2021, and 3.2% since the last valuation in December 2021. It's important to point out that Lar España has a resilient portfolio of dominant shopping centers and retail parks in attractive customer areas with assets 100% owned, delivering flexibility, control, and full decision capacity. A solvent and diversified tenant base with a WALT of 2.6 years and close medium- and long-term relationships and an active management employing the latest trends in technology, omnichannel strategy, and customer knowledge experience.
Reflecting Lar España's financial strength, the last annual general meeting approved, based on 2021 results, a dividend of EUR 0.36 per share, amounting EUR 30 million at 7% dividend yield over market cap. This dividend positions us among the leading Spanish-listed companies in terms of direct shareholder remuneration. Now, let's turn to slide 28 and to go over the P&L. Our assets generated revenues of over EUR 40 million with an increase of almost 5% versus the same period last year. All the main figures have presented a remarkable improvement versus the figures in H1 2021, reflecting Lar España's strength and resilient portfolio. This effect can be seen in the EBIT, EBT, and the net profit, which increased to EUR 54.9 million, more than seven times higher than in the previous year.
Now, I would like to briefly review the most important elements of our new business plan, which, as you know, we presented last month at Analyst Day. The strategy in our current portfolio is aimed at preserving our excellent occupancy levels. We want to go hand-in-hand with our tenants, maintaining a strategy of proximity to the most important retailers and return to the same pre-pandemic levels of operations, all with the goal of returning to pre-COVID valuations. As you can see in slide 30, one of the key assumptions of our business plan is the rotation of our portfolio. We have included a rotation of around 230% of our portfolio during the BP period, with more than EUR 400 million of total investments and more than EUR 500 million of new investments, with the objective of increasing the return and profitability of our shareholders.
In the next slide, 31, we have included the main assumptions at corporate level. We will continue to maintain prudent leverage, and neither capital increases nor share buyback programs are planned for the BP period. We will also continue with one of the best shareholder remunerations in terms of dividend, and returns above 10% will be back. All this without forgetting our management agreement with Grupo Lar, which were renewed last year, and that is in line with best practices within the REIT segment. Regarding the plan's objectives, as can be seen in slide 32, they are all ambitious targets in operational, financial, and shareholder remuneration terms. We anticipate an average growth of about 7% of gross asset value per year while maintaining prudent leverage levels.
We will seek to increase occupancy towards 98% and to go back to the annual returns above 10%, with a stable average growth per annum in operating figures such as gross rental income and net operating income. Now it is Miguel's turn to give us his final conclusions.
Thank you, Jon. Thank you very much. After all that has been said in this call, I would like to remark the very good results that Lar España has obtained in this first half of the year. Together with the recovery of the sector makes the company a really attractive investment. In addition, we continue to maintain a very solid tenant base. It's one of our pillars, and a very high commitment to ESG present in all company activities. Our dividend yield remains among the best in the continuous market, and our portfolio has a strong valuation and proven to be very strong. We have the highest percentage of positive analyst recommendation in the sector with more than 50% upside potential. Let me end this presentation by emphasizing Lar España upside potential.
That is because we are leaders in a market that is in clear recovery. We have demonstrated the resilience of the portfolio we own. We have a very solid financial position, and we have a continuous commitment to innovation and also to best governance practice. In conclusion, we combine an excellent portfolio of assets, a great management, a high profitability, and a very strong commitment to creating value for our shareholders. Thank you very much for your attention, and now we can open the Q&A session.
Okay. Thank you very much, Miguel, José Manuel, and Jon. Can we remind all the people connecting to the call the way through which they can send us the different questions, please?
Ladies and gentlemen, we will now start the Q&A session. If you want to ask a question, please use the webcast functionality Ask a Question. I now hand over the call to Hernán San Pedro.
Okay. The first question is for Jon Armentia from Buy Side. Could you please tell us what is the COVID incentive in the half and something about the future incentives we are going to see in your P&L?
Okay. Thank you for the question. Well, in terms of P&L, the effect that we have had during this first half has been EUR 7 million in relation with all the lease incentives. That is less than the amount that we had last year in H1 2021. In relation to what we expect for 2022, we have reduced significantly the lease incentive in relation to COVID-19. In fact, I will say that almost is something that we think that is more past than present, no? In some cases, in some activities, but very punctual, we are working with some lease incentives, for example, in some cinemas or in relation with leisure units.
I will say that figure will be reduced significantly in comparison with 2021 for the whole year.
Okay. Thank you very much, Jon. The second one is for Miguel Pereda from Buy Side too. Could you please let us know what is your view about the inflation impact in the future business?
Yes. Well, of course, the figures that we saw in inflation have been extraordinary. One of the things that we are expecting, and that's what experts thinks also, to come back to more normal levels next year. In any case, we have certain protections in our portfolio. The first protection is that our leases are linked to inflation in all cases. Our rents are reviewed with inflation that is published. I think second thing is that we see how our sales, the sales of our retailers are growing strongly, you know. That's very important to see how healthy the situation is. A big demonstration of that is that our effort rates remain below 10%.
That's what we think is a very healthy level. Probably to add something else is that, because of the type of portfolio that we have, the ticket per visit, that is something that we follow very strongly, is very moderate. I think that's also some kind of protection for this to happen.
Thank you, Miguel. The third one is for José Manuel Llovet from sell side. About the rents during the first half of the present year, how did you see the future evolution of the rents in the next quarters?
Okay. Thank you, Hernán. Well, I think that it's a combination of what Jon and Miguel mentioned before. During this first half of the year, we have seen a steady increase of rents, very stable. You know, as Miguel said before, all the rents are indexed, and we have had a very high collection rate. New lettings, 9.3%, renewals 1% increase. Also the effort rate that Miguel said, this is the keystone of the business. If we have a low effort rate, we are more protected from, you know, potential sales decrease. This is a very strong point in our strategy. In the future, what do I think? I think that we are going to follow the same pace during the year. I think that the rents are going to be stable.
We see all the tenants with strong strategies for improving and for increasing. We see the main retailers are thinking in investing more and in growing more in omnichannel strategy, and also very based in shopping centers. I think it has improved that the people has returned to shopping centers everywhere in the world, not only in Spain, but probably in Spain even more. They are having strong increases of sales in shopping centers. Therefore, I think that this trend of good sales and then sustainable or static effort rate is going to happen. Thinking in 2023, we are going to have this high inflation.
This is going to be an important moment for us because we have to understand well how it is going to affect to sales or how it's going to affect to rents. The prospect that we have in our business plan is sustainability of rents and a steady growth.
Thank you very much, José Manuel. Another couple of questions for Jon Armentia from Buy Side. The first one is about the market independent valuation. Can you give us some color about the most important aspect evaluated by the appraisals? The second one is about dividend expectations in terms of dividend for the next year.
Okay. Starting with valuations, what we have seen in this semester is that when we analyze the performance, all of the main drivers have improved. The one that we can manage internally, the cash flow and the net operating income of our assets has increased in comparison with December. Very positive. Also in parallel, we have seen some kind of compression of yields and also a decrease in IRR. In general, we have seen a positive performance. Additionally, showing that when we analyze the ERV of our portfolio, estimated rental value, and we compare with December 2021 or even with December 2019, we have been able to improve it. This has been in relation to valuations.
About the dividend, well, as you know, our policy depends on EBITDA earnings and also the potential investment that we can have. Analyzing the EBITDA earnings for 2022, we expect, as we have seen during the first half, to finish or to have a brighter figure higher than the one that we had in the last year. We expect to increase also for 2022, the dividend that we'll be distributing next year in April or May 2023.
Thank you, John. The next one is for José Manuel Llovet. Can you give us an update on the latest status of the transactional market? Do you already expect to start your rotation plan this year given the current environment?
Okay. Well, we are seeing a reactivation of the capital markets in Spain, clearly. We have seen some transactions. This was one of the main problems that we had during the last two years, that no evidence in the market, so everything was very difficult to compare. Now we see through the first investments that the market is there, and there are different kind of money coming to Spain again. We're having, on one side, more opportunistic deals, on the other side, more low cost of capital deals. There is a lot of variety in the market. Last year and the past was very focused in supermarkets. Now we understood that that was going to change.
Once the investor has seen the resilience of retail parks, they have increased traction very much. Also the good shopping centers, the reaction of the good shopping centers with high occupancy rates and low debt have been the proof of the resiliency of the industry. The differential also with other kind of asset was huge. In other asset classes, we were seeing interest rates or entry yields at 3%. I think that the differential that shopping centers and retail parks have with these kind of assets, it is going to make the investors turn their eyes again to the industry. This is something that we are seeing.
In the first half of the year, we have seen, like, EUR 1.1 billion in transactions that are projected for maybe doubling this figure by the end of the year. Things have changed very much. I think these are good news. Also, what are we doing, you know, that we are aware of always what is happening in the market. We have shown in the BP our intention of rotating assets or buying new assets with the focus of creating value and making more, you know, creating more benefit for the shareholder. This is what we are actively doing.
Thank you, José Manuel Llovet. The next one is for you too. It's from sell-side. Looking forward, what outlook do you have for the second half and next year? Are you expecting some slowdown in the retail sector due to the uncertainties in the macro environment?
Well, I mean, I think we have already spoken about that. I mean, in our case, what we think is that during this the second part of the year, we're going to be stable in sales and rents. We think that the good and dominant shopping centers and retail parks throughout the country are going to be in the same way. Of course, interest rates are growing, inflation is growing. On the other side, employment is, you know, in a record. Also, salaries are increasing. We need to see what is the final combination of both, you know, vectors or drivers going, you know, oppositely.
But what we understand also is that, in the opposite that during the crisis that the people was buying goods instead of services, we are going to see a higher increase in services and maybe a smaller slowing down in goods. Despite of that, I have to say that, in sales, in the first half of this year, we have seen food increasing 18% or furniture increasing 50%. It's something that we have to see, we are analyzing, and what we need to do is to get our centers ready for, you know, answering to the challenge.
Thank you very much, José Manuel. Is there any other question?
There is no more questions.
Okay. Thank you very much. In the name of the board of directors and of our external manager, thank you very much for attending the meeting. Remember that all the teams are at your disposal for all the additional information you could need. Thank you very much, and bye-bye.