Hello and welcome to the Cofinimmo full year 2024 results. My name is Laura, and I will be your coordinator for today's event. Please note this call is being recorded, and for the duration of the call, your lines will be on listen-only mode. However, you will have the chance to ask a question at the end of the call. This can be done by pressing star one on your telephone keypad to register your question. If you require assistance at any point, please press star zero, and you will be connected to an operator. I will now hand you over to your host, Jean-Pierre Hanin, CEO, to begin today's conference. Thank you.
Thank you, Laura. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today as we dive into Cofinimmo's results for the financial year 2024. I'm joined by my esteemed colleagues, Jean Kotarakos, CFO, Yeliz Bicici, COO, and Sébastien Berden, COO. We've got a lot to cover today, but we'll try to keep it short to ensure that there is enough time to answer your questions. Let me kick off with the highlight of last year. In 2024, Cofinimmo signed again solid results, and we pursued our activity: active portfolio management. In total, over the last three years, we succeeded in divesting around EUR 700 million, of which almost EUR 500 million in offices. In 2024, we were again net seller with net divestment of EUR 97 million. This leads to a low debt-to-asset ratio of 42.6%. 2024 shows a net result from core activities higher than the outlook at EUR 244 million.
Occupancy rate is still very high. Gross rental revenues are up nearly 2% on a like-for-like basis, and our cost of debt stays stable at 1.4%, which is still one of the lowest levels for REITs in Europe. Healthcare real estate now makes up 77% of our EUR 6 billion portfolio, and the office segment was reduced to well below the EUR 1 billion mark and is now largely recentered on the best area of Brussels' central district. On the sustainability front, we are proud to say that Cofinimmo is recognized as one of the most sustainable companies in Europe by notably the Financial Times and Time. We can now confirm that the board will propose to the general meeting to distribute a gross dividend for the 2024 financial years payable in 2025 at EUR 6.20 per share, in line with the guidance.
Our company profile and strategy are well known by all of you, so I suggest going directly on slide number eight. This chart, with whom you are familiar, illustrates the steep growth in healthcare from 45% in 2017 to 77% today. At the same time, the office segment was reduced from 38% to 15%, and the distribution networks segment was halved. On slide number nine, you can see that we continue to diversify our footprint with a significant presence in most of the nine European countries where we operate. Today, more than half of Cofinimmo's total portfolio is located outside of Belgium. I'm now on slide number ten. Last year, we had net divestment of EUR 162 million, essentially linked to the execution of development projects in healthcare. You know that the office market in Belgium was still muted last year.
It's in this challenging context, and after a remarkable end-of-year sprint, that we managed to divest for almost €155 million in this segment. We also performed asset rotation in two other sectors of activity, all in line with the latest fair value before signing. I'd like to thank my colleagues and all the Cofinimmo teams for this performance. Slide 11 summarizes for you the ongoing portfolio rotation since 2018. On slide number 12, there is a highlight of our accelerated portfolio growth since 2018, an average of 9% per year. We have the ambition to continue on this expansion path. In the meantime, thanks to the proactive management of the portfolio, we managed to keep our debt-to-asset ratio at an adequate level. On slide number 13, on the stock market, Cofinimmo's market cap is approximately €2.1 billion after a year marked by volatility despite solid operational performance.
The daily liquidity remains sound. On slides 15 to 19, you see that Cofinimmo's dedication to sustainability has been praised in Belgium and abroad. Our efforts have positioned us as a very credible player in the industry. Let me give you some examples. Cofinimmo was already part of the Financial Times' list of Europe's Climate Leaders for 2023 and 2024 as the only Belgian real estate company, and Time magazine has included Cofinimmo in the World's Most Sustainable Companies, a selection of 500 companies, of which only two are Belgian real estate companies. I'm now on slide 17, where you can see that our portfolio's energy intensity was reduced to 138 kilowatt-hours per square meter in 2024. This represents a decrease of 27% since 2017, which is significant and puts us on track to meet the target of 130 kilowatt-hours per square meter per year in 2030.
On slides 18 and 19, we listed our benchmarks and awards. Now, let's take some minutes to talk about the property portfolio. As shown on slide 21, our property portfolio maintains a very high occupancy rate at 98.5%. On the same slide, you see the top 10 list of our tenants. Moving to slide 22, the overall weighted average residual lease term remains quite long, at 13 years and even at 15 years for healthcare. In 2024, I'm now on slide number 23, gross yields have slightly expanded at 5.9%, which means 5.6% net. Overall, our average net yields have been closer to 6% than to 5%. Sébastien Berden, COO, will now provide insight into our healthcare segment.
Thank you, Jean-Pierre, and good morning to you all. Moving to slide 25, our mission remains steadfast to consolidate a leadership position within the European healthcare sector. We achieve this through geographic expansion and diversification across various healthcare segments. As illustrated in these slides, our comprehensive portfolio spans nine countries and includes a diverse array of healthcare assets. Next to nursing and care homes, which still form the majority of our assets in all our geographies, we own acute and rehabilitation care as well as primary care centers, to mention only a few. Moving to slide 26. In 2024, we continued our investment activity, arising mainly from the execution of running development projects in high-quality healthcare real estate. The fair value of our healthcare portfolio amounts now to EUR 4.6 billion and represents 77% of Cofinimmo's portfolio. We own 310 sites, more than 30,000 beds for almost 1.9 million square meters.
This represents an average of 6,000 square meters per asset. On slide 27, we follow up on an initiative we presented for the first time during our February call last year. The table provides an overview of the underlying occupancy rates in our portfolio. I'm sure you remember that Cofinimmo diligently gathers data on the performance of our clients in the healthcare market and benchmarks this data with our internal database and external market data. As a reminder, for 2023, we saw a continued improvement in occupancy rates in most countries. The average occupancy rate in Cofinimmo's portfolio reached 92%. We were happy to observe that this positive trend is continuing in 2024. Please remember, however, that the data for 2024 is still preliminary and will be confirmed next summer during our July call.
Slide 28 presents a summary of the eight acquisitions we completed in 2024, most of which being the completion of development projects we had in our value pipeline. We also completed two projects after the closing of the financial year, which are summarized on slide 29, together with a divestment in France. Finally, I would like to draw your attention to slide 30, where we summarized the results of our proactive portfolio management. Executing our asset rotation strategy, we divested 11 assets, which no longer prove strategic or sustainable. I'll now hand over to my colleague, Yeliz Bicici, for an overview of Pubstone and offices.
Thank you, Sébastien. Good morning, everyone. We can move to slide 32 for the breakdown of our distribution networks, also known as the Pubstone portfolio. As a reminder, it consists of a long-term contract with AB InBev for 822 pubs and restaurants in Belgium and the Netherlands. This segment represents a fair value of approximately EUR 500 million, covering around 300,000 square meters. Just like in the offices and the healthcare segments, our asset rotation strategy and distribution networks have led to divestments for a total amount of EUR 8 million. Let's move on to the office segment as of slide 33. The office segment fair value, consisting of 25 properties for around 250,000 square meters, is of EUR 829 million.
Slide 35 illustrates the successful evolution of the portfolio, with currently almost three-quarters of our assets being located in the CBD of Brussels. Slide 36 details the divestments realized in 2024.
As you can see, we've closed some important deals just before the year ends, with EUR 120 million divestments in Q4 alone. On slide 37, I'd like to recall the provisional delivery of our Montoyer 10 building in Q3 2024. This new landmark is a model of sustainability in the European Quarter in the CBD of Brussels. The Montoyer 10 has recorded unprecedented prime rents for Brussels, that is EUR 400 per sq m. The quality of the building and its excellent location have already attracted two prime tenants, each committing to nine-year leases. Another outstanding project I want to highlight is the complete renovation of an office building in Mechelen, of around 15,000 sq m, leased to the Flemish Community and which was delivered at the end of January 2025.
After the works, its energy performance is well above current legal requirements, thanks to extensive energy upgrades, a focus on the circularity of materials, and the complete interior refurbishment. A lease renewal has been signed for 18 years with the tenant, and the rents will be indexed based on the Belgian Consumer Price Index. I will now give the floor to Jean, our CFO, who will delve into the financial specifics.
Thank you, Yeliz. Good morning to all. We can go to slide 40, please. Here we observe that our overall portfolio has experienced a 1.4% growth in gross rental revenues on a year-on-year basis of EUR 5 million. The impact of investment and divestments on the top line have offset each other. This equates to a like-for-like rental increase of almost 2%, primarily fueled by new leases and indexation, which have more than offset the impacts of renegotiations and departures. As we move to slide 41, we note that the 1.4% growth of the top line translated into a 1.3% increase of the bottom line at EUR 244 million, the cost items being globally flat year on year. The EPRA earnings per share (EPS) reached EUR 6.50 per share, which again exceeded our projections.
This EPS calculation incorporates the effect of divestments and the capital increases of 2023 and 2024, resulting in a cumulative impact of €90 per share for the full year. On slide 42, we present the IFRS net result, which stands at €64 million as of end of December, or €1.70 per share. This represents a significant increase of €119 million compared to 2023. This increase comes from the uplift in the net result from proactivity group shares, €3 million, coupled with the favorable evolution of the fair value changes of hedging instruments and of investment properties' value, both non-cash items, between the two comparative periods. Drilling down into the portfolio result, we see a figure of €152 million as opposed to €270 million in 2023. This encompasses the following key elements. Firstly, the gains or losses on disposal of investment properties amount to €16 million.
This result is calculated based on the fair value at the end of 2023 of the assets divested during the period and the net price obtained. Secondly, the changes in the fair value of investment properties are negative at year-end 2024, EUR 123 million compared to EUR 182 million at year-end 2023. On a like-for-like basis, the changes in the fair value of investment properties stand at 1.9% for the financial year 2024, with a change in fair value over the fourth quarter limited to 0.2% after 0.3% in the third quarter and 1.4% in the first half. This is mainly due to three items. First point, a change of 1.6% in healthcare real estate, deriving mainly from negative revaluation in line with changes in market conditions.
Second point, a 5.5% change in the office segment, representing only 15% of the consolidated portfolio in line with changes in the market condition in each of the subsegments in which the group is active. And third point, all this is partially offset by a change of 2% in the property of distribution networks. Turning to slide 43, we observe that our total assets are valued at approximately EUR 6.4 billion, with investment properties and assets held for sale at fair value constituting nearly 94% of this figure. These assets are financed by more than EUR 3.5 billion in equity and more than EUR 2.8 billion in financial and non-financial debt. Slide 44 offers an analysis of the net decrease of the debt-to-asset ratio from 43.8% at the end of 2023 to 42.6% by the end of 2024. This change can be attributed to several factors.
Firstly, the impact of the net divestments is a reduction of the debt-to-asset ratio of 0.5%. Secondly, the fair valuation of the investment properties had an impact, a limited impact of ±0.8%, while the cash flow produced during the year and the dividend paid represent another net reduction of 1.4%. With current projection, we aim to maintain an almost stable debt-to-asset ratio of around 43% by year-end 2025. On slide 45, you can see that the EPRA NAV is somewhere between €93 and €101 per share, which is somewhat lower compared to the full year 2023. I can comment here on the evolution of the IFRS NAV between 2023, where it stood at €98.61 per share versus €92.84 per share at the end of December 2024, meaning, in fact, that it decreased by approximately €6. There are three main drivers behind this decrease.
First, the deduction of the 2023 dividend paid in 2024 for EUR 6.2 per share. Secondly, the impact of the capital increase through the optional dividend in Q2. The net impact of this capital increase on the IFRS NAV is a deduction of EUR 1.3 per share. Thirdly, we need to account for the net result for the period, which generates a positive impact of EUR 1.70 per share. Let's now turn our attention to the financial resources at our disposal. In the first half of 2024, we successfully raised EUR 75 million of equity following the optional dividends favorable outcome. Regarding the debt capital market, there have been no new developments since 2022, sorry, 2022, when we issued the second sustainable benchmark bond of EUR 500 million, as you can see on page 48.
It's also worth noting that our S&P Global Ratings rating of BBB, with a stable outlook, was reaffirmed in March 2024, with the report being published at the end of April 2024. As depicted on slide 49, we've been busy executing some significant refinancing operations last year. As a consequence, all but €3 million of the €25 million maturities have already been refinanced. We did that at credit spreads that have gone down compared to the refinancings concluded in 2023. Slide 50 illustrates that Cofinimmo now holds €2.6 billion in sustainable financing, comprising various instruments, including a sustainable commercial paper program. Slide 51 highlights our continuous access to diversified funding sources, including relationships with 25 leading banks. On page 52, you see that despite the passage of time, the average debt maturity remains stable at four years. The average cost of debt is also steady compared to 2023.
It stood at a very low level of 1.4% during the whole year. Based on the information presently available for 2025, we anticipate a very slight uptick in our cost of debt to 1.5%. On the medium term, we anticipate a gradual increase year by year to reach around 2.2% in 2028 when the first benchmark bond will mature. Another good news is the maturity table shown on slide 53, where we can present a clean sheet for the 2025 maturities, as I said earlier. Apart from that, our debt maturities are well distributed. The headroom on the committed credit lines for Cofinimmo to finance its activities currently stands at more than EUR 1 billion after accounting for the backup of the financial framework. Slide 54 shows that our interest rate risk was fully hedged at the end of 2024, aligning with the group long-term interest rate hedging strategy.
Between 2025 and 2028, the hedging ratio varies from 29% to 88%, with a weighted average maturity of four years. I will now hand over to Jean-Pierre, who will present the outlook for 2025.
Thank you, Jean, for this detailed overview. On slide 56, you will find the breakdown of the investment budget for 2025. Turning first to the investment aspect on the left of the slide, we are now considering gross investment for a total of EUR 170 million for this year. Half of this amount is allocated to committed healthcare project development. EUR 26 million is under due diligence, and another EUR 54 million is for other investment opportunities in healthcare and EUR 10 million for the offices and Pubston e. Secondly, on the divestment aspect on the right side of the slide, based on our current evaluation, we target EUR 100 million in divestment, with EUR 6 million already signed, EUR 45 million under due diligence, and EUR 48 million of more opportunistic divestment.
With this projection, the net investment would reach around €70 million at the end of 2025 and would have a nearly neutral impact on the debt-to-asset ratio, which is expected at around 43% by year-end. Now, what does it mean for the outlook of 2025, as shown on slide 57? As you can see, our target is a net result from core activities of €6.20 per share, of €6.20 per share. This EPS reflects the pro-rata temporary effect of the capital increase carried out in 2024 for approximately €0.09 per share. It also includes the divestment carried out in 2024 and budgeted in 2025, equating to €0.36 per share. For your convenience, we also added a line showing the expected denominator for the computation of the 2025 EPS.
This outlook would allow the distribution of a gross dividend for the 2025 financial year payable in 2026 of EUR 5.20 per share, a level representing a gross yield of around 10% at the current share price, corresponding to a payout ratio of 84% in line with market practice. This dividend adjustment, which anticipates the further gradual divestment of offices, allows for short-term stability and medium-term growth depending on opportunities in healthcare real estate. In this regard, let's highlight that the demand for healthcare infrastructure is growing throughout Europe with country-specific dynamics. Occupancy rates for operators of healthcare assets continue to improve, enabling them to consider again additional infrastructure. In 2025, we have the ambition to continue managing all our portfolio actively, to remain a leader in sustainability, and to consider interesting opportunities that would arise in the market.
Thank you for your attention, and we are ready now to address your questions.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Thank you. We will now take our first question from Véronique Meertens of Van Lanschot Kempen. Please go ahead.
Good morning, all. Thank you very much for the presentation and taking my question. Maybe first, looking at your guidance, your operating margin improved quite a lot during the year. Is this something that you expect to maintain this level of operating margin, or was that more of a one-off in 2024?
No, I think we keep tight control on our costs and the management of the company. So clearly, we have inflation indexation here and there, but we try to basically compensate that by other measures as much as we can. So for us, it's important to keep control on that.
Okay, very clear. And maybe looking at the investment breakdown that you made, what are you currently seeing in the market? Is that more standing acquisitions that are interesting, or is it more developments? And also the part that you already have under due diligence, where do you currently see most opportunities?
It really depends on the geographies. In certain geographies, developments are still not there, linked to construction costs that may remain quite high, or other elements linked to, I would say, local environments. In other geographies, you start to see healthcare operators thinking again about growth and having a discussion. It's really country-specific, or even sometimes within a country region-specific. You cannot draw a line globally across Europe.
Okay. But for your guidance, it's mainly looking also into acquisitions or development?
Yeah, so we have to see whether there are opportunistic acquisitions. We have seen that during the last two years, there were not many, and I always said to you, remember, Véronique, that the visibility in normal time beyond three months was extremely difficult. I would say three months is still a big, big max, but there are rumors, there are people talking, so clearly, there are more discussions than in the past.
Okay. That's good to hear. And then maybe one last question. On your like-for-like, there is also a -1% from the negotiations. Is this mainly from the office part or from the healthcare part? And could you give some more details on that?
Yeah, it's a mix of the two. And on the healthcare part, which is probably the most interesting for you, it was a few cases where basically we exchanged against concessions by the tenant, like for example, longer wards, some minor adjustments. You may have seen them a bit spread out over the year. We don't expect that, certainly not at this level in the future, but we consider it as win-win as we receive something in exchange.
Okay. That's very clear. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. We'll now move on to our next question from Vivien Maquet of Degroof Petercam. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. Thanks for the presentation. A couple of questions on my end. Maybe first on the office and the strategy on the disposal. I think you mentioned in the dividend, I would say, cut that it also includes expected additional disposal. Just wanted to get your view on the strategy. Is the idea of looking for minority shareholders still the preferred route, or do you believe you will sell asset by asset and then fueling into the healthcare?
Yeah. Well, I would say, Vivien, that we are opportunistic. So basically, we are open to both, but we are not waiting on the sidelines that someone shows up for a stake in the full portfolio and holding on the asset by asset. So I think we can basically go along the two strategies in parallel. One does not exclude the other. And regarding also the strategy, you have noticed that the adjustment of the dividend anticipates the progressive divestment. The reason is that basically we didn't want to have an adjustment every year depending on basically the pace of office divestment. So basically, the new DPS is set at a level net of the contribution of the offices. So we ensure stability for the future midterms and can envisage thereafter some opportunities upwards.
Okay, thanks. Then maybe on the disposal of the offices, could you maybe comment on the type of office that you are planning to sell? Are we talking about prime office trying to get a high price because of good assets with nice tenants, core assets, or are you most looking into maybe assets that you don't want to reposition or that you believe that the redevelopment potential is too low?
Given the overall good quality of the portfolio, with the vast majority being now in the Brussels central district, I would not say that we have bad assets to sell. So basically, what is important is to get a fair price. And for that, there might be local reasons selling to someone which already owns the assets next door, adjacent, and so you can get a better value. So we are not targeting any specific area now because we have the vast majority in CBD, which means that if we get a good price for a CBD asset, we consider it, of course. And it does not diminish the attractivity of the whole portfolio because, as I said, the whole portfolio is already largely located in the best part of the CBD around the European institution, as you know.
Okay, thank you. Then maybe one last question. Could you comment on the leasing activity in the M10? How is it going?
It's going well. According to plan, we had the delivery at the end of last year, mid last year, and that we have recorded the prime rent, and of course, we get traction because of the nature of this building, and 2025 should be the year where normally we complete the occupancy of this building.
Thank you. That was it.
Thank you.
Thank you. We'll now move on to our next question from Frédéric Renard of Kepler. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Hi guys, good morning. Just a few questions on hand. I will address them one by one. Maybe to come back on the like-for-like for healthcare, you mentioned it was specific to one specific situation, and you don't expect that to happen again, but what would you say for 2025, 2026? Can we take as an assumption that like-for-like would be in line with the indexation for your portfolio?
I think clearly not comparable to 2024. We have not foreseen any situation. Clearly, we are much more confident also looking at the performance of our operators. Clearly, I would say that the weak point is behind us.
Okay. Maybe then another question on your portfolio value. So it was down, but gradually decelerating in terms of decrease. What would be your view for 2025 in terms of like-for-like portfolio value?
You may remember, Frédéric, as I said, that we considered for us that 2024 was the year where basically we wanted to clean the balance sheet, and that's why it was spread it over the four quarters. Clearly, as long as the interest environment stabilizes and gets even better, we are clearly on the stabilization point, and we hope to have improvement down the road.
Okay. And maybe a last one. Let's imagine a world where you would be trading at NAV. How big will it change your strategy today in terms of deals? And I guess the question would be also, if it changed a lot, does it still worth it to be listed in your view?
Being the chairman of the EPRA, you can expect my answer, Frédéric. We are a strong believer in a listed real estate company. I think one of the main advantages nowadays, which is often underestimated by many investors, is the transparency of listed real estate companies. If we look at so many funds that today are still highly leveraged and that have not adjusted their value in order not to breach covenant, I think listed companies not only offer liquidity to basically enter and exit, but also much more reliable figures and transparency. I think Europe has still a lot to do and to grow compared to the US, which has a larger market. I think we are gradually growing. We still believe in the listed model, which may give a bit less agility, but it's compensated by more protection for the investors.
So from an investor point of view, I would clearly say that the listed model is much better. Now, about the change in strategy, well, you know our strategy, the strategy resisted to the COVID. The strategy has resisted to the crisis started in 2022 and even has been reinforced. So I think that you don't have many REITs that are transforming themselves, coming from one segment 100% to another segment 100%. And I think we continue down the road still executing our strategy. It doesn't mean that we are not regularly revisiting it to make sure that the changing and very volatile environment requires some adjustment or even a change. But so far, I think that the turmoil of the last years has confirmed that the strategy was a good one.
Thank you.
Thank you. We'll now take our next question from Steven Boumans of ABN AMRO - ODDO BHF. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning, and thank you for taking my question, of course. Maybe a question on growth. You state you have the ambition to continue growing like the strong quarter since 2018, and some questions how to look at that and how to fund it. So first, how likely are different forms of capital increase like acquisition in kind or maybe a scrip dividend in 2025? Second, do I see it correctly that the 2025 targets do not include any form of capital increase like the ones mentioned? And third and last, if the opportunity is there, would you be willing to invest more than the EUR 160 million target and fund that maybe partially with equity?
There are various sub-questions. On the funding of acquisition, you know that we still have our office portfolio that basically is a sort of recycling capital for growth. We want to continue, of course, using the office portfolio as a currency for our growth. We do also some asset rotation in healthcare. We do that for years. We have a clear asset rotation plan. Being an old-timer, I would say, in the healthcare segment, it's important that we also pay attention to asset rotation. We have not planned indeed equity increase or scrip dividend. The scrip dividend is something we never include in a guidance because it depends on the condition of the market and where the company stands and so on. It's usually decided a couple of days before the General Assembly in May. This year will not be an exception.
No capital increase because basically, as you see our guidance, we still project to be around 43% at year-end at a very sound level with not a huge amount of divestment. You have seen that we have projected EUR 100 million, so I hope that this year we will not have the same cloud that the three last years where every year people were saying you will never make it in terms of reaching of divestment, and for the three last years, we made it. So this year we have EUR 100 million. EUR 50 million is already, I would say, underway, so a very achievable target. And in terms of acquisition, well, shall we do more that is in there?
Of course, we still want to keep with a reasonable LTV, which does not give dry powder for huge acquisition, but still we have a bit of opportunity and we have to use it at best to make it accretive for the company.
And with accretive, you mean accretive to EPS?
Yes.
Okay, clear. Thank you.
Thank you. We'll now take our next question from Francesca Ferragina of ING. Please go ahead.
Hello, good morning everybody. Many thanks for taking my question. The first one is around disposals. I see that the rhythm of disposals that you expect for 2025 is decelerating compared to the previous year. Can you explain your decision? Is that because you are looking at the office portfolio in a different manner compared to the past? Second question is about the investments that are to come in 2025. I see around EUR 80 million committed development CapEx. Can you remind us what's the yield on these? And do you see room to optimize the pipeline as you did already with a few projects in 2024? The third one is about the transaction market.
So what you see here lately, what type of assets, what type of yields, and in the investments that you are targeting to come, is there any geography that you would like to prioritize in the current environment? Last question. I may be a little bit early on this, but I want to give a try. On the dividend, based on the investments that you are announcing for 2025, do you think you will be able to benefit from the reduced withholding tax for 2025, or is this too early? Thank you.
Okay. Thank you. So on the speed of disposal, basically, the main reason why we had accelerated the disposal during the last years were linked to LTV that was considered by some, not all, observers as a bit high. So now that we are in, I would say, a much more comfortable zone in terms of LTV, we don't see the need to already openly commit to an amount as high as in the past. But in practice, we are a seller of this category. So it's not that we notice a change on the market or that we change our strategy. It's mostly linked to balance sheet management than anything else. On the pipeline, it's basically the last part of the legacy pipeline, and the yield on cost has not changed compared to what we said in the past, so around 5%.
Transaction market, there are portfolios that are not officially on the market, but still in play already for a while. Probably not the best quality, let me put it this way. Now, in terms of geographies, I would say the south of Europe, especially Spain, as an economy, is doing quite well, which of course has an impact on many industries like healthcare. The U.K. is quite active, as you have seen, the attempted takeover announced in the recent days, but you know that in the U.K., there are very old assets that are maybe high yield, but that are high maintenance, a lot of CapEx, so you need to make sure that you are in the good segment. Other geographies are still a bit quieter, but this can evolve, but for the timing, it's a natural how we see things. For the dividend, we use withholding tax.
The answer is no, and by the way, where we are from the political standpoint in Belgium, but we don't believe and we don't manage the company in light of fiscal legislation that might or even will be reversed, and the qualifying percentage of asset qualifying for the withholding tax is a bit below 77%. So we still want to go, but last time we announced a number, the government increased the percentage. So I don't think that this time they will increase it above 80%, but they might better remove it, and you know that as of next year, the U.K. will not be considered anymore from that standpoint as part of the E.U. So we see it more as a fading away execution than a perpetual legislation.
Yeah, that's clear. Very clear. Many thanks.
Thank you. Once again, as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Thank you. We will now move on to our next question from Lynn Hautekeete of KBC Securities. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone. I have three questions. The first one is on your corporate taxes. You've applied for guidance based on lower corporate taxes this year. What do you expect for 2025 given the FBI cuts that will lead to three million additional taxes? Yes.
I'm sorry, but the connection is very bad. Could you repeat your question, please?
Yeah, sure. Yeah, the first question is on the corporate taxes. You've outperformed your guidance based on lower corporate taxes. Could you please elaborate on that, and could you also indicate what you expect for 2025 given that you will higher taxes on the back of the FBI status?
Okay. So yes, Jean?
Hello, Lynn. So as it was said in the past, indeed, the FBI status disappears on the 1st of January 2025 in the Netherlands. That has an impact of EUR 2 million, almost EUR 2 million on the corporate income tax there. And then you know that the Dutch government changed several usual rules for usual companies in the Netherlands in the fall last year or this year. And that has another EUR 3 million impact. So all in all, you can count for an increase of about EUR 5 million of the taxes.
Okay, that's clear. Perfect. Second question I had, probably also for Jean, was regarding the cost of debt that you're guiding for 2028. Just to be 100% sure, the 2.2%, that is before the refinancing of the benchmark bonds. Am I correct?
No, it's for the year. It's the average cost of debt for the year 2028 that we foresee now based on the existing maturity profile, the existing hedges that we have, and so on.
Okay. And in that assumption, you refinance your bonds close to 4%?
Lower. I think it should be lower than that. Based on the current assumption, it's lower than that.
Okay. Okay, clear. And then the last one is, would you consider doing a share buyback given where your current stock price is? And maybe if disposals of offices are accelerating, you could put cash towards that. Is that an option? Or is that something you're discussing?
Well, if you look in the real estate network, share buyback has never been a big success. And I think also it would give a message that we don't have any ideas and projects. So it's not on the agenda.
Okay, that's clear. Thank you.
Thank you. We'll now take our next question from Sam Knott of Kolytics. The line is open. Please go ahead.
Hi, thanks for the presentation. Just one from me. Could you help me understand the impact on earnings from the divestments? Because assuming you can reinvest all of those proceeds, is there a big gap between the yields you're selling out and buying out? Or why should we expect an impact on earnings there? Thanks.
I'm not sure I understood your question, Sam, because the connection is not good. But if your question is to ask what is basically the net impact of selling and buying depending on the yield of assets we divest and the yield on acquisition, is it your question?
Yes. And why you're expecting that to be negative?
Why we expect what? Sorry.
Sorry, I think the connection's great. Why you're saying your earnings are going to decrease because of that?
Okay. We will call you after the call because we understand the question. So the decrease in EPS is basically linked to divestment we have made and more than EUR 700 million over the last year. It's not linked to necessarily changing in yield. For a yield difference between assets we are selling and new assets, well, if I sell an office outside of the CBD, which of course is high yield, and I reinvest, recycle this as we did in the past in healthcare, it's clear that the yield will be lower, but it's really on a case-by-case basis. So I'm not sure. I'm probably answering your question because I don't understand it correctly. Jean, maybe you.
Yeah, you will also see in the press release that we see when we speak of the outlook that the effect of the divestment amounts to EUR 20 million on the rental income net of rental-related charges. If it can help because we did not hear the question, in fact, but we can speak after the call.
Thank you.
Sorry, Sam. Yeah.
Thank you. Once again, as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Thank you. We will now take our next question from Alexander Totomanov of Green Street. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Good morning, and thank you for taking my question. One question for me. Earlier this week, Aedifica reported a boost from contingent rental income in part of its U.K. portfolio, essentially additional rental income paid by leases if certain EBITDA margin or EBITDA rent cover thresholds are met. Is this an arrangement you have for some of your leases, and is this a direction that you see the industry going in?
First, I don't know exactly what they cover for their own portfolio of contingent rent, but it's not something on the U.K. market, which is, I would say, well spread. Usually, people talk about contingent rents to basically compensate on incentives that were given in the past, and where basically the operators are coming back to better performance, they basically give a kick on the rent because of concessions of the past. So broadly speaking, on market, contingent rent is still quite exceptional if we are talking about variable rent. So you see, I'm cautious in answering because it's something I don't think that you can extrapolate or exaggerate. It's more related to what has been done in the past with a specific portfolio that is recovering from past incentives than really a new set of variable rent.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you. There are no further questions in queue. As a final reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Thank you.
No other questions.
There are two further questions coming through. I will now hand it back to Jean-Pierre for closing remarks.
Well, very good. Thank you to all of you. And of course, as you know, our Investor Relations team is always ready to answer your questions. So if you have any follow-up on the discussion of this morning, always please answer to them. Thank you for your attention, and have a good day. Bye-bye.
Thank you. This concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.