Good morning, and thank you for taking the time to connect to the Parque Arauco third quarter 2023 earnings call. I'm Lauren Brown, head of investor relations, and I am joined by Francisco Moyano, CFO, and Eduardo Pérez, CEO of Parque Arauco. I would like to mention a few things before we get started. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. Please note that this call is being recorded, and the recording will be used for internal purposes. To start off today's conversation, I'm going to pass the call over to Francisco.
Okay. Thanks, Lauren, and good morning, everyone. We had a very positive quarter. This quarter with several important news. First, regarding our quarter results, our EBITDA and revenues continues to show a good trend with growth over the last year above inflation, showing a 10.5% for the revenues and a 6.8% growth for the EBITDA. We have been seeing inflation decreasing in all three countries, but still it's in an important level, especially in Colombia. Growing above those figures is a result of a strong business, sound commercial relationships, and a strong portfolio. Also, I would like to highlight that our occupancy level is in its highest level for the last ten years, reaching 98.1%.
All of our malls are almost at 100%, and Parque Alegra, which is in its ramp-up process, is also growing in occupancy every month. Another important point to mention is that we are working on our zero-based budget. We have been seeing pressure on our margins, mainly coming from accounts such as real estate taxes and insurance costs. In this scenario, it's important to maintain the most competitive level in all other cost of operations. A zero-based budget is a methodology that aims to analyze in a bottom-up process all costs with detail, understanding the possible levers that one might have to optimize it.
Regarding projects, in this quarter, we announced three important projects, including the expansion of our iconic asset in Peru, MegaPlaza Independencia, that with its current square meters in the first phase will expand to add new gastronomic options and a larger common space. Besides that, in Colombia, we were excited to announce two investments in multi-property assets. The first was Titán Plaza in Bogotá and then Parque Fabricato in Medellín. Lauren will expand on this important investment afterwards in the presentation. Finally, to highlight our AA rating in MSCI ESG and A rating in GRESB. These recognitions are important to us since represents our work in the ESG area, one of our strategic pillars. Now passing to page 6. Regarding tenant sales. The tenant sales decreased 1.6% when we compare the third quarter of 2023 with the third quarter of 2022.
The exchange rate did not play an important role this quarter since without this effect, the decrease would have been 0.5%. However, we are still seeing two different scenarios within these figures. In one side, we have the anchor stores decreasing double digits, while in the rest of the mall is moving around inflation. Also, it's important to mention that the anchor stores represent around 40% of our sales and GLA, but only 18% of revenues. This decrease in sales in the anchor stores, you can see it also represented in the figures that we are showing in a country-by-country breakdown. Chile is increasing 1.3%, while Peru is decreasing and Colombia is growing 6.8%.
This is a result of the different composition that we have in each country, where Peru has a larger portion of anchor stores. The difference in results in sales in anchor stores and the rest of the malls is also shown in the occupancy cost, which is increasing in all three countries. However, if we again separate the results of the anchor stores and the rest of the mall, the occupancy cost for the rest of the mall today is around the same levels that were in 2019. Showing good figures for the stores that represent more than 80% of the revenues. Now passing to the next page. Regarding revenues. The revenues of the company are growing 10.5%.
This is a very positive figure, and also it shows not only in the consolidated figure but also in the country-by-country breakdown, where Chile is increasing 10.3%, Peru 6.4%, and Colombia 18.1%. All these three figures are above inflation. But Chile and Peru have inflation around 5%, and Colombia 11%. The occupancy is also, as I said, reaching its highest values since the last 10 years. You can see in the country by country that Chile is 97%, Peru almost 96%, and Colombia, that is showing 94%, also includes Alegra, which is in the ramp-up, and today is at 81.1%. The figure for Colombia without Alegra would be 96.5%. Also in a very positive level.
To mention that our new acquisitions, Titán and Fabricato, is being added to the portfolio with very good occupancies. Titán is at 95% and Fabricato is at 97%. The same area rent is also showing positive figures, and I would like to highlight the figure for Chile, which is growing 6.8% in the same area rent when you compare the same quarter for 2022 and 2023. Finally, the revenue composition, only to highlight that we are maintaining our revenues more fixed than variable, which is important also in a scenario where sales are more challenged. Now passing to page 9. Regarding the EBITDA, the EBITDA is growing also above inflation at 6.8%.
We are aware that we are having a quarter that has a pressure from costs, and as I said, first coming from real estate taxes and insurance. Also in this quarter, we have an impact of budget provisions. The budget provision, as you might know, during the pandemic, we increased the budget provision in an important level, since we wanted to have a very conservative position around the budget provision. We increased it from year 2020, and then in 2021. As the company started to show more normalized levels of operations, we're starting releasing some part of that provision. The release of that provision took place in the last portion of 2021 and 2022, and the beginning of 2023.
Today, we think that we are more reaching a reasonable level for this bad debt provisions. In the last quarter, we wanted to strengthen our position by adding this provision of around CLP 1.1 billion. We are seeing mainly in Chile specific tenants that are having some trouble with their accounts. Because of that, we wanted to strengthen our position in this provision. I also wanted to mention that the large portion of our accounts receivable are in good shape and the receivables are all the receivables and the amount that we have every month is in good behavior.
However, when we compare the second quarter of 2023 and 2022, in the last year, the budget provision, we released CLP 270 million in budget provision. This year we are provisioning CLP 1.1 billion. In total, the difference against last year is CLP 1.4 billion, which is impacting our EBITDA level this quarter. Around this factor, it is also important to mention that we have some costs that are recurrent and versus others that are non-recurrent. We think that the budget provision is a part of the non-recurrent type of costs. We think that the amount that we provision this quarter, we are not seeing that we will repeat this type of provision in the future. We consider that as a non-recurrent cost for the company.
However, more recurrent would be real estate taxes and probably insurance. However, even when we are working on trying to see levels to decrease those costs as well. Again, we are working with zero-based budget. We are assigning a lot of time and importance to costs in this scenario in which we are seeing an increase of pressure. In the EBITDA, in the country by country breakdown, we can see that the EBITDA in Peru and Colombia is growing, while Chile is mostly flat when we compare with last year. This is because, again, this bad debt provision, which was concentrated in Chile this quarter. With that, I would like to pass the call to Lauren.
Thank you, Francisco. As Francisco mentioned, we had experienced higher revenues in the three countries this quarter. To expand on that, Chile revenues grew at Parque Arauco Premium Outlet Buenaventura by 17% and 63% at Portal Nuevo compared to the same quarter of the previous year due to new tenant openings. Additionally, in Peru, Salazar Food Hall opened in Larcomar, increasing revenues by 20%, while revenues increased by 35% at MegaPlaza Ica after the opening of Dollarcity and Divertido. Colombia also welcomed three new H&M stores at Parque Alegra, Parque Caracolí, and Parque Arboleda. Alegra's occupancy, sales, and revenue increased as a result. Additionally, at La Colina, revenue grew by 14% as a result of the expansion of La Social Food Hall. Passing to the mall-by-mall pages.
You will see that in this quarter, as Francisco mentioned, Chile NOI margins were affected negatively because of an increase in non-recurrent expenses, including the bad debt provisions, which Francisco explained, and the additional property taxes. This quarter, we announced various development projects, including an expansion in MegaPlaza Independencia in Peru as part of its master plan and two acquisitions of malls in Colombia, which I will expand on. Parque Fabricato is a multi-property asset with approximately 57,000 square meters of GLA and is one of the most iconic shopping centers in the metropolitan area of Medellín. This shopping center has been managed by Parque Arauco since its inauguration in November 2021 and has important anchor stores such as Éxito Supermarket, H&M, and Decathlon. Additionally, it has LEED Silver certification and is considered a sustainable project due to its good energy-saving practices.
An agreement was reached for the acquisition of a 51% stake in the fund, Inmoval, which owns 56% of the trust REITs of PAL investment vehicle that owns several stores that amount to 39,700 square meters of GLA, which is approximately 70% of the multi-owner property. Parque Arauco will pay Inmoval an advance of about $17 million, and in 2026, it will pay a price adjustment based on the EBITDA of that year as per the original call option agreement. In our accounting, you will see that we own 100% of our share and not 70% of the whole shopping mall, as you would see if this were a single ownership property. With this, we will consolidate the EBITDA generated by PAL, amounting to approximately $5.5 million per year.
In Bogotá, we acquired a stake in the vehicle that owns several stores and offices in Titán Plaza, which is one of the most iconic shopping centers in Bogotá, and this acquisition was for $43 million. Titán Plaza is well-located in one of the city's most consolidated neighborhoods. This shopping plaza includes retail spaces such as Falabella, Jumbo, Zara, and Cine Colombia, and it also has A A office spaces. The EBITDA per square meter of the retail area owned by the vehicle is very similar to that of Parque La Colina, which is our main asset in Colombia. Additionally, the vehicle had $6.4 million of EBITDA in the last 12 months. The offices at Titán Plaza will not be consolidated as we will not have the control nor the management of them.
We will use the equity method approach for accounting of these offices. This is the same method we used for Marina. For the retail space, we will consolidate about 14,000 sq m, of which we will own 57%. On page 37, you will find a case study about these multi-owner properties in Colombia, a format that is different from what we find here in Chile. Today, 65% of the malls in Colombia have this multi-owner format and could make attractive investments. Now jumping over to ESG. We have various slides on ESG, but one of the most important that I would like to highlight are the awards that we received. We obtained a A A rating in the MSCI ESG rating, along with the A rating from GRESB in 2023.
The prestigious MSCI rating has granted us a A A rating, and it recognizes the integration of environmental, social, and governance criteria in the company's risk management. Similarly, GRESB assesses the environmental, social, and governance performance of multiple companies in the real estate industry worldwide. Recently, we improved our score compared to the previous year in this prestigious ranking, maintaining the highest A ranking and additionally ranking first in South America compared to our peers. We are very proud to receive these prestigious ESG rankings. Here is where you can find the case study on the Colombian shopping mall. With that, I would like to turn this over to questions. If you are joining our call using the link, you can ask a question by clicking the button, Ask a voice question or by submitting a written question.
If you are joining by phone, you can ask a question by pressing star two. When you are invited to speak, I will unmute you so you can ask your question. To start off today's discussion, I'm going to pass the call over to Eduardo. Okay, I see we have a question from Marcelo Mota from J.P. Morgan. So Marcelo, I am going to unmute you.
Hi, everyone. Can you guys hear me?
Yes, we can. Hi, Marcelo. How are you today?
I'm fine, thank you very much for asking. My question is regarding—I mean, actually, there are two questions. The first is regarding the performance of the anchor stores. When do you think we're gonna see a light in the end of the tunnel? What is the end game? You know, they have been underperforming for a while. I mean, do you think, once rates in Chile starts to more or decline even more, you know, credit starts to flow, I mean, this is something that could be reversed? Or do you think this is like a structural underperformance or how should we think about that?
The second question is regarding Francisco's comments that, you know, the level of provision right now is healthy, and we should see this like CLP 1 billion in provisions during the third quarter more as you know, recurring. Which are, let's say, the leading indicators that would make us feel comfortable that there are no additional provisions, you know, to be made, you know, with the help of the anchor, the satellites and how to think about it. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Marcelo, for your question and good morning. Regarding your question about department stores, I would say that part of the decline in sales is because of fundamental conditions and part is more contingent. I believe that the part that is more contingent is related to the fact that the department stores sell durable goods and the purchases of durable goods were very strong during the pandemic. Naturally after the pandemic, the sales of these durable goods are lower. Second, I would say the quality of the credit that the same department stores give have been decreasing. Because of that, they have been restricting the credit.
Because of that restriction of credit, that has affected also sales. I think that's also contingent and not a fundamental change. That said, I do believe that a part of the decline is more fundamental. Because of that, we have said in the last calls that we believe that the space of department stores will decrease going forward. We believe that this will be a gradual process. In this process, it's very important to understand the quality of the portfolio because of course, if some square meters are closed, they will close the less profitable square meters. Because of that, the quality of the portfolio is very important.
As we have mentioned before, that Caracol has the highest EBITDA per square meter in each of the countries where we operate. Because of that, their revenues and sales also are among the highest or the highest in the country. We believe that we can face some few closures going forward, but we believe that they will not be very material. Because of that, manageable. Also, I would like to mention that on average, we see that as an opportunity because again of the quality of the assets. The reconversion of those spaces can be accretive and very profitable for the shareholders of the company. Regarding the first question about the bad debt provision, let me give you, Marcelo, some perspectives about the big picture here.
Basically, the bad debt provisions are. First of all, let me mention that the outstanding days are in the lower levels of the last year. This is 30 days in Chile, 35 days in Peru, and 15 days in Colombia. The health of the uncollectibles are strong, I would say. Let me give you a couple of KPIs there. The level of provision that we have is equivalent to 100% of the debt above 120 days. That level was 70% between the start of the pandemic. A second KPI that I think is important to mention is that the level of provision is equivalent to 39% of accounts receivables.
That level was close to 20% between the start of the pandemic. In summary, we are being more conservative than the start of the pandemic. The reason is that, as I mentioned before, the health of the uncollectibles is good, strong. However, there are some few cases very correlated to the gastronomy category that started to struggle during the pandemic. Most of cases end up in strong results after, and they are now in good shape, but some few cases didn't make it until now, so they have been struggling. Again, I would like to mention that in average, the health of the uncollectibles is very strong.
Second, we are being more conservative than what we were before the start of the pandemic.
No, that's super clear. Thank you very much.
Okay. Thank you, Marcelo.
Thank you, Marcelo. I will now unmute Javier Toledo from Itaú BBA. Hi, Javier.
Hi, guys. Hey, Lauren. How are you? Can you hear me?
We can hear you. You're on.
Congrats on the results, and thank you for taking my question. Maybe a following question on Marcelo's comments, but just want to know how should we think on the evolution of the additional bad debt expenses and increasing property taxes for the following quarters?
Yes. The property taxes have been increasing importantly in the last years, both because of the increase in the base in the fiscal valuation of our assets, but also because of increased rates, especially in Chile. I don't see that changing going forward, and I believe that will be a cost pressure going forward. Regarding bad debt provisions, as I mentioned before, we see this as a one-time event, as a non-recurring event. And I would expect a good performance of this going forward. I don't think you will see more pressures about uncollectibles, and about bad debt provisions going forward.
Let me mention also briefly about what Francisco explained about the zero-based budget. We are making a large effort as a company in this process of zero-based budget. This is a process in which all the company is participating. We are analyzing in detail each of the cost accounts of the company, and in a detail that we have not done in the past. I do expect positive news regarding this going forward. This is a process that will take three years in this because it implies a large effort from the company. In this first year, we will review the cost accounts equivalent to 40% of the costs and expenses of the company.
From that review, I would expect, again, positive news going forward that will compensate or more than compensate the cost pressures we're facing, mainly from territorial taxes and insurance.
Cool. Thank you very much. Super clear.
Thank you, Javier.
Thank you, Javier. Next, I will go to Felipe from Santander. Hi, Felipe. How are you today? Can you hear me?
Hi, everyone. Can you hear me?
Yes, we can hear you.
Great. Well, first, thanks for the call. I just wanted to follow up on what Eduardo said on the first question. This reduction in space going forward, do you think will be explained by less durable goods being sold in the stores, or do you also see a shift on the square meters of the apparel side of department stores?
No. Good morning, Felipe, first of all. The comment is basically in the sense that we have been seeing a decrease in sales of department stores, not only in the last year, but for several years now, especially in Chile. Because of that, we do expect that as a category of department stores, the surface will be lower going forward in order to reach similar levels of sales per square meters that what they had some years ago. It's just an adjustment that you need in order to reach the same productivity levels of sales per square meters that you had five years ago or more.
In that sense, we don't know how the adjustment will be made or each of the brands closing some few stores, the less profitable ones, or some companies merging, or some companies going out of the market. However, we do have a strong position in expecting a reduced space going forward in department stores, especially in Chile.
Understood. Thanks, Eduardo.
Thank you, Felipe.
Additionally, we have a written question from Lauren Zion. Two questions, actually. The first is with respect of the FFO that decreased from Panamericana. Can you please explain what happened to have this negative effect? The second question is if you can comment on how the ramp-up is going at Alegra.
Let me make a general comment about the FFO, and then I will hand the question to Francisco. It is important to remember that the FFO does not include the loss for index liabilities. Let me make a reminder here that in Chile we use the UF, which is this inflation-adjusted index, highly used in the country. Most of the credits in the country are taken in U.S.-denominated currency. Because of that, the financial costs of the company are both in the financial expenses account and in the loss for index liabilities account.
When you analyze both accounts together, again, financial expenses or gastos financieros and loss for index liabilities or Unidades de Reajuste in Spanish, you will see that the addition of both have decreased 50% in the third quarter compared to the third quarter of last year. More specifically, the addition of the two accounts in the third quarter of 2023 is equivalent to CLP 18,248. In the same quarter of 2022, it was CLP 36,571. We have a 50% lower financial cost, which is a very large figure. That said, the
How we measure FFO does not include the loss for index liabilities, basically because it's not cash, but it is a payment that you will make when you pay your liabilities going forward. I believe it's a gray area where it should be part of of the index of FFO or not. It's very important to mention that in the big picture, the financial cost of the company is decreasing 50% compared to the same quarter of last year.
Yes. Regarding the FFO, the specific question about Desarrollo Panamericana, right? We have in the FFO one account that is called associate account with FFO. In that line, we add the FFO from Desarrollo Panamericana and Grupo Marina. Desarrollo Panamericana is the several land banks that we had in Peru when we acquired the 50% of MegaPlaza from the Wiese family. We acquired the 50% of MegaPlaza, but we ended up with this land bank, maintaining the partnership with the Familia Wiese of the 50%. This Desarrollo Panamericana then has an asset value of around $35 million. The impact that we had this quarter is related with the value of those assets. We did some sort of a cleanup of the value of the assets.
This impact that we are seeing in the quarter, we are not expecting to repeat it in the future as well.
Great. Regarding the question about Parque Alegra, we are very happy and optimistic about Parque Alegra. As a reminder, what we expect to do with this asset is to be the best asset in the south part of the city of Barranquilla, which is the fourth largest city in Colombia. We have now commercialized 80% of the GLA, and we expect to close next year, 2024, in higher, more than 90% of the GLA. The most important openings in the last months have been H&M, which has had a very positive impact in the shopping center.
We are now having, before the start of the Christmas season, visits of 700,000 to 800,000 each month, which is a very strong figure. We see the performance of the shopping center better month after month. We're very happy about the performance and optimistic about the future.
Great. Thank you everyone for your questions. I saw a question and then it disappeared. If maybe someone retracted their written question. Does anyone else have an additional question today? All right. Well, thank you very much, everyone, for joining us today on our third quarter earnings results call, and we will be in touch. Please feel free to reach out if you have any additional questions or comments. You can reach me via email, and we can set up another call if you would like. Have a great day. Thank you very much for joining us today.
Thank you. Have a good day. Bye-bye.